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Michigan Football Coach Addresses Backlash For Being Nice To Buckeyes As Outlook Infects Locker Room

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Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham at a press conference.


Kyle Whittingham does not hate Ohio State. He has a respect for head coach Ryan Day despite not having a close personal relationship. Whittingham does not believe hatred is necessary to have a strong college football rivalry.

The Michigan fanbase might disagree. They’ve given their new head coach flak for his outlook on the Buckeyes. Unfortunately, the attitude appears to be spreading to players.

‘The Game’ as it’s most commonly referred is often one of the most intense and physical football matchups in the nation. It boasts two historic brands. There have been 14 games in which both teams were ranked in the Top 5. Championships are typically on the line.

Michigan leads the all-time series 62-52-6. They did not lose any of the first 16 editions of the rivalry. Their dominance continued up through about 1950.

The two sides went back and forth across the next 50 years before Ohio State began closing the series gap at the turn of the century. The Buckeyes are 18-6 since 2001. The Wolverines, however, have won four of the last five.

Hatred is a word synonymous with the rivalry. The two schools and their fanbases do not like one another. Ohio State won’t even refer to ‘That Team Up North’ by name.

Previous Michigan head coaches embraced the animosity. Whittingham has a different approach.

Kyle Whittingham does not hate Ohio State.

“I thought Ryan Day was a very good person when I interacted with him at the Rose Bowl (in 2022) and based on what Urban (Meyer) has told me about him,” he said. “A rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor. I don’t think there’s any place for that.

“Ryan Day’s a good person. To sit here and say, ‘I hate Ryan Day,’ I’d be making crap up.”

It represents a shift from the last two Michigan staffs. Jim Harbaugh frequently ribbed the Buckeyes while beating them each of his last three seasons. He famously took a direct shot at Day with his “Born on third base” slight.

Sherrone Moore was less vocal about the rivalry, but the hatred between the programs was alive and well under his two-year watch.

In 2024, a brawl erupted when Michigan players planted a flag on Ohio State’s field. The police were forced to get involved. A few Buckeyes appeared to get pepper sprayed.

Kyle Whittingham comes to Ann Arbor with a much different rivalry experience. He played and coached on both sides of the ‘Holy War’ involving BYU and Utah. While the teams and fans do not like one another on gameday, the hate is usually at a minimum.

Whittingham was never confrontational in his pregame pressers or with his in-game demeanor. In fact, he rarely ever talked about BYU, positively or negatively.

With that said, there was a respect. Whittingham coached at Utah in some capacity for 30 years. That came after earning his degree and being an all-conference performer on the field at BYU.

Whittingham has been both sides of a rivalry. He chooses mutual respect over hate. His refusal to give added attention and pressure to a singular matchup is trickling into the locker room.

Bryce Underwood talks Ohio State.

“It’s just another game,” he said in a conversation with John Fanta. “Just guys in a different color. That’s how I see it.”

Underwood views the Buckeyes as just another opponent. He’s taken some of the emphasis off the rivalry after losing in his debut.

It’s actually a stance Ryan Day took last season after four straight setbacks in the series. One game at a time. No one opponent deserves more focus than another.

It paid dividends for the Buckeyes, who ended the losing skid in 2025. Whittingham and Underwood are taking a page from the book.

Will this be the friendliest version of ‘The Game’ in rivalry history? We’ll see how it plays out soon enough.