Eagles May Sign Restic To Serve as Head Coach

Tabloid headlines across a bevy of the nation's leading newspapers on Saturday afternoon etched the name of Harvard football coach Joe Restic as the front-runner for the head coaching post of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Both Eagles' owner Leonard Tose and general manager Jim Murray conferred with Restic about the availability of the top slot on Friday.

Restic is conceivably in the midst of negotiations with the Eagles' management to the ring of a $1.2 million multi-year package.

Restic, who was reportedly receiving feelers from the New York Jets and Colgate University football teams through cloak and dagger discussions earlier, this season, confirmed the sudden development.

He was quoted by A.P. as saying, "It's news to me that I'm the number-one candidate," he said. "They talked to me and indicated an interest in me. I told them what I've told other people in the past. I have an open mind and am receptive to opportunities but I also am very happy at Harvard."

Mike McCormack relinquished the coaching reins when he was axed this fall, while the Eagles floundered to their 13th losing season in 14 campaigns.

The Eagles' management originally had Arizona State coach Frank Kush lined up for the helm but the Sun Devils' mentor snubbed the lucrative pact. Kush was voted American Football Coaches Association 1975 Coach of the Year. He guided his team to a number-two ranking in the nation's polls and a 12-0 record, which included a Fiesta Bowl cakewalk over Nebraska.

Kush amassed a 159-39-1 composite record at Arizaona State, the highest win percentage next to that of Penn State's Joe Paterno. Paterno also nixed the Eagles' offer, which paved the way for Restic.

Kush's attorney is Bob Woolf, who has slapped together multi-million contracts for diverse sporting bonus babies. Woolf said that of all the deals he has helped put together, the Eagles' offer to Kush was "undoubtedly the most unusual with the most potential."

Kush who currently earns $70,000 a year is believed to have been offered a five-year $1.2 million contract.

Restic is presumably being approached with a comparable offer.

Both Restic and Kush graced the Statler Hilton Hotel Friday night along with other football luminaries to attend the Kellogg Clinic.

Rumors surfaced earlier in the year that the New York Jets were grooming Restic for the top slot and that Jets' owner Phil Iselin had met with Restic.

New York Daily News Sports Editor Dick Young lent credence to the report, writing that the Jets were definitely after a coach from the college ranks.

Jets general manager A1 Ward is maintaining a tight lid on any news concerning candidates for the coaching job. The Jets' news blanket was earlier reported to stem from the fact that they had their eye on a member of the Dallas Cowboys' coaching staff and did not want to raid the Cowboys' ranks on the eve of the Super Bowl.

Restic played for the Eagles as a wide receiver and defensive back after graduating Villanova in 1952. He then moved on to coaching stints at Brown and Colgate.

Restic gained national prominence at Harvard, piloting the Crimson to a 30-14-1 mark during his five-year tenure here.