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Michigan fans certainly do not have a soft sport in their heart for Dan Capron.
If that name sounds familiar and you can’t place it, Capron was the lead official in the 2016 version of The Game — you know, the Michigan – Ohio State game the the Buckeyes won in double-overtime. The one with questionable officiating at key points near the end of regulation and then in the overtime periods.
Yes, that one.
Capron his hanging up his striped shirt after a 20 year career, and spoke to the Chicago Tribune‘s Teddy Greenstein about a litany of subjects, including that penultimate play that ultimately went Ohio State’s way, taking the air out of the Michigan sideline.
As one would expect, Capron stands behind the call.
“Of course the ruling on the field was that he made the line to gain (on fourth-and-1) and it was going to be a first down. The buzzers went off and it got kicked up to replay. I don’t know why the network didn’t have a camera right on the yard line. It was broadcasting malpractice. Because there was no camera on the yard line, there wasn’t a good angle to make the determination on an excruciatingly close call. I’m talking about within an inch. So replay couldn’t get a read on it, and they did what they’re supposed to do. The ruling on the field stands.
“By the way, the line judge who made that call is Brian Bolinger from Indiana. That was his last Big Ten game because the next year he started in the NFL. Pretty damn good.”
Admittedly, ‘the spot,’ as controversial as that call is, once it’s called that way on the field, as Capron noted, it was impossible to reverse without a better camera angle.
While the aforementioned will certainly make Michigan fans wince, even more so might be Capron’s opinion of the Wolverines head coach himself.
He does have one valid point in talking about Jim Harbaugh — if you throw something on the field, you’re likely to get a penalty — but the ref shows his cards completely, noting just how little he cares for the Michigan head man.
“The head linesman — from the state of Michigan, not that it matters — (assessed the penalty). … Coach Harbaugh threw his clipboard out on the field. Well, that’s a no-brainer. First of all, he was complaining about an offside call, which is not the hardest in the book to make. It was a completely valid call.
“You have to be able to control yourself. There’s a tremendous amount of gray area with the unsportsmanlike conduct call. His actions were black and white. If that head linesman doesn’t make that call, he’s going to get downgraded by the boss. And it’s going to cost him.
“You throw something out on the field, I can understand that … if you’re a fourth-grader. If you’re an adult that’s paid (more than) $5 million a year to coach a major college football team, I would expect more.”
Calling him a fourth-grader isn’t exactly going to get him invited to many Harbaugh functions in Ann Arbor anytime soon.
Though, Capron doesn’t think Harbaugh is the worst coach to deal with. That distinction goes to another former coach in the Big Ten, who’s now a defensive coordinator in the SEC.
“He’s still not the worst coach. The worst coach I’ve ever worked for, ever, not even close, no one within 10 miles, is Bo Pelini.”
Perhaps both surprising and unsurprising, Capron didn’t have anything bad to say about former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. But, as he notes, that’s because Meyer wanted little to do with the officials in general.