Four years isn't a long time. It's one Olympics, one World Cup, one Presidential election, one undergraduate career. But for Harvard's football program, four years is exactly how long it took to transform a joke of a team into an awesome juggernaut.

When Harvard Coach Tim Murphy arrived four years ago, Harvard had only known Joe Restic football for the 23 previous years. But Murphy turned the program around with rigorous offseason workouts and vigorous recruitment.

The effort paid off this year with an Ivy title and the best football season (9-1, 7-0 Ivy) Harvard has had since it won the Rose Bowl to finish 9-1...in 1919.

It was a remarkable transition considering that Murphy's first three seasons were 4-6, 2-8 and 4-6. In fact, Murphy was named the New England Division I Coach of the Year in recognition of the turnaround.

The individual awards also flooded in for the players. Harvard has the possibility of having three graduating seniors play professional football this fall. The last time any Crimson gridder played football for money was in 1985.

Senior tackle Matt Birk was a unanimous First-Team Ivy selection and was selected by his hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings, in the sixth round of the NFL draft. Birk cleared a swath for the other unanimous Harvard selection, sophomore running back Chris Menick. Menick set school records for season rushing yardage (1267) and touchdowns (14).

The defense dominated Ivy opponents, allowing just four touchdowns in the seven league games, none of which were rushing. The all-senior defensive line shut down the opposition's running game, and the much-improved secondary defended well against the pass.

End Chris Smith finished his career as the career sacks leader, and Jason Hughes and Tim Fleiszer were First-Team All-Ivy players. Fleiszer's season and incredible pre-draft workout resulted in a first-overall pick from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL draft.

Senior safety Jeff Compas, a Second-Team All-Ivy pick, signed a free agent contract with the New England Patriots. He entered the Crimson record books with the second-most career interceptions, but the record of his that cannot be broken is being the first-ever freshman starter and first 40-game player.

Making the outlook even rosier is the fact that this year's sophomores showed that Murphy's incredible first recruiting class would be followed by others. Last year's Ivy Rookie of the Year, linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski, made the Ivy First-Team for his great run-stopping ability.

Record: 9-1, 7-0 Ivy

Coach: Tim Murphy

Highlights: Wins first Ivy title since 1987; posts first unblemished Ivy record in school history; tallies most wins since 1919.

Seniors: Matt Birk, Jared Chupaila, Jeff Compas, Mark Drakos, Dave Elliot, Tim Fleiszer, Tom Giardi, Jason Hughes, Michael Layden, Bob Psaradellis, Chris Schaefer, Colby Skelton, Chris Smith, Jay Snowden, Mike Williamson

The rushing of Menick was set up all season long by the passing of sophomore quarterback Rich Linden, who ended with the most single-season completions and touchdown passes in school history and set a Harvard record for total yardage.