Bryan Harsin has tried to remake his image since his first season at Auburn last year, and now the Tigers are about to share whether these changes have paid off.

ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum reacted to Harsin’s time at SEC Media Days, and his recent sense of humor handing out T-shirts to Auburn media members. Finebaum shared his thoughts during his regular visit with “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama.

“I think Bryan Harsin has been a true profile in courage of what you should be as a head football coach,” Finebaum said. “Yes, ultimately he has to win, we know that. But you’re right, and Greg, I’m going to take it a step further. You mentioned AL.com, I’m going to mention the writer’s name, his name is Joseph Goodman, and he carried on a vicious, unsubstantiated campaign against Bryan Harsin over the COVID shot. I am not here to make medical decisions, or political decisions, that’s not what I do. But that was his choice, and you could choose to respect it or not. But it doesn’t cause for a one-man campaign to try to get the guy fired.”

Finebaum said he likes Harsin, that he’s a thoughtful coach and can understand why Athletics Director Allen Greene bucked the system to try to hire Harsin.

“But ultimately, that’s not what he’ll be judged by,” Finebaum said. “But in terms of winning people over that were on the fence with Bryan Harsin, I think he has done that, and I think he deserves tremendous praise for taking a road less traveled in taking on those who tried to fire him, and taking on those who creeped in the middle of the night like cockroaches trying to get a man fired with no justification and not one scintilla of evidence.”