Greg McElroy sends appreciation to Jim Harbaugh for his impact on college football

Greg McElroy reacted to Jim Harbaugh’s move to the NFL, and weighed in about how the former Michigan coach changed college football, and never feared the SEC or Ohio State.

“I think all of us are appreciative, to an extent, of his time back in the sport,” McElroy said. “Because he did restore order, not through the lens of an Ohio State Buckeye perhaps, but he at least gave Ohio State a hurdle that they had to go over.”

McElroy said Harbaugh bringing back Michigan, and lifting The Game to appointment television again with some 20 million TV viewers is great for college football.

“No matter how you feel about Jim Harbaugh, your school might have benefitted from it,” McElroy said.

McElroy said he appreciated that Harbaugh again promoted a power-style approach with a physical line of scrimmage and a run-oriented attack.

“It’s the style of football I grew up with in the 90s, where it was about running backs, and pounding it and all these other things,” he said. “Even the early 2000s, I loved that brand of football.”

Harbaugh ruffled feathers and pushed the envelope, something McElroy said he appreciated, starting with satellite recruiting camps in the South.

“He went and took his show on the road,” McElroy said. “… That’s something I will always remember.”

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.