If Kyle Whittingham would’ve tried to convince us he hates Ohio State, I wouldn’t have believed him.
I wouldn’t have believed him, because it would’ve been a load of bull. Whittingham’s never been one to serve a load of bull, and so Michigan's new coach didn’t pretend to hate the Buckeyes when asked about the rivalry at Big Ten Media Days.
What’s wrong with that?
In a world that salivates over authenticity, Whittingham came off true to himself when he said he doesn’t hate Ohio State and he respects Buckeyes coach Ryan Day.
And that's when the internet, hungry creature that it is, stepped in and made a small stink of a Michigan coach saying he doesn’t hate Michigan’s archrival. Can you tell it’s the dog days of summer, and the college football ecosystem
craves something — anything — to dissect until the games mercifully arrive?
Whittingham clarified his comments this week, saying although he doesn’t hate Ohio State, he appreciates the importance of beating the Buckeyes, calling the rivalry “huge.”
"Would we have a better chance to win if I hated them? I mean, I don’t understand,” Whittingham said. “I want to beat them worse than anybody around.”
Say no more.
Whittingham’s job is to beat Ohio State, not to hate Ohio State.
Michigan fans can hate Ohio State. Just don't expect Kyle Whittingham to fall in line
Where Whittingham went wrong is when he initially said there’s no place for hatred in this rival. He’s not required to hate Ohio State. He also shouldn’t imply that other stakeholders, like fans and players, don't get to hate the Buckeyes.
You do you, and be judged by the results.
Let’s back up for a moment: Why would anyone think Whittingham would or should hate the Buckeyes?
Whittingham is a California native. He’s a Brigham Young graduate. He once worked for Urban Meyer. He spent his entire career up to this point in the Mountain Time Zone.
If I’m a Michigan fan, I’m less worried about the coach’s roots than I am that Whittingham, for all of his success at Utah, never developed a quarterback into an NFL Draft pick.
If he wins, his outsider background will be hailed an asset. He brought fresh eyes to a program that needed them!
If he fails, his background will be deemed a reason for his downfall. He didn’t understand the place!
In truth, hating Ohio State won’t help Whittingham do his job.
Don’t hire a Utahn and expect him to behave like a Michigander.
Do expect Whittingham to instill a degree of resoluteness, a hallmark of his Utah tenure.
Ryan Day obsesses over Michigan. Does that serve him well?
Fans hating a rival is part of what makes college football great. Coaches hating a rival with the passion of a thousand suns can get in the way of the job.
Day obsesses over Michigan. He also lost to Michigan four consecutive times. All that Day’s Michigan obsession brought him in those years was a level of added stress that didn’t serve him or Ohio State well.
Day, as others do in the state of Ohio, spells Michigan as Xichigan. Well, ‘X’ marked the spot where Michigan tried to plant its flag on a November day in 2024, when the Buckeyes lost to an out-manned Wolverines team coached by a miscreant masquerading as a leader.
In the old days, when schools tended to be more enamored with hiring “true sons,” it wasn’t uncommon for coaches to hate a rival.
After Earle Bruce died, his grandson said this of the Buckeyes alumnus, turned Hall of Fame Ohio State coach: “He hated no one, except Michigan.”
Kansas and Missouri play a rivalry known as the Border War. The bitterness predates the college football series and traces its roots to bloody years of fighting in the run-up to the Civil War.
"We’re the good people; they’re the bad people. That’s the best way I know to explain it,” former Jayhawks coach Don Fambrough, a KU alumnus, once said of Missouri. “I don’t like their people, I don’t like their players, I don’t like a damn thing about ’em."
Other than that, Mr. Fambrough, what do you think of Ol' Mizzou?
It’s not wrong for coaches to feel strong emotions about an opponent. It’s also not mandatory, especially when that coach hails from several states away like Whittingham.
How Kyle Whittingham fared in rivalry games at Utah
No college football fan needs permission or an introductory course in how to loathe a rival. As an Auburn fan once said of the Iron Bowl, it's not life or death, because “it’s much bigger than that.”
Plenty of Michigan and Ohio State fans share that energy.
Finding motivation is a personal experience, though. Hating an opponent might provide extra fuel for some coaches and players. For others, motivation comes from other sources, and forcing hatred would either be manufactured, unproductive, or both.
The ability to handle the pressure of rivalry games is more important than actually hating your rival. Are you the coach who turtles up, or the coach who rises up?
At Utah, Whittingham went 11-6 in “Holy War” games against BYU. Seeing as BYU is his alma mater, he surely doesn’t hate the Cougars, but he typically fared well in a game that means more than any other on Utah’s schedule.
Put it this way, if Whittingham wins almost two-thirds of the time against Ohio State, they’ll celebrate him in Ann Arbor as the all-ball, no-bull coach Michigan needed in this moment.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kyle Whittingham is all ball, no bull. So what if he doesn't hate Ohio State?
