Dan Capron has been working Big Ten college football games for twenty years. The time has come however for him to make a decision to call it quits after doing a bushel of very big games. He’s done some Ohio State vs. Michigan games, a national championship game, and a slew of other big-time tilts throughout his career.
That means he’s got some behind the scenes stories and perspectives not many have from on-the-field moments and battles that only someone in his position has access to.
The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein sat down with the officiating veteran to pick his brain on some things the public may not know. It’s a fascinating read, and there are some things in there that Buckeye fans will get a kick out of, and one that they may not.
I think everyone but Harbaugh, Urban and Bo Pelini will enjoy my sitdown w/Dan Capron, who dishes on B1G coaches after concluding 20 yrs as referee:https://t.co/A2m22Hv7qO pic.twitter.com/jzwKmGqmYS
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) February 8, 2020
Some of the most interesting nuggets come from the Ohio State vs. Michigan game in 2016 that went to double overtime. You know the one. The game in which there was a “controversial” spot that J.T. Barrett received on the winning drive of the game, and the same one in which Jim Harbaugh got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing his playbook on the field in disgust. Yeah, that one.
When discussing the unsportsmanlike penalty, Capron compared Jim Harbaugh’s antics to a fourth grader.