New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham has no 'hatred' for Ohio State

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Kyle Whittingham's first Big Ten Media Days as the head man of the Michigan football program are in the books.

But Whittingham's trip over from Ann Arbor to Chicago this past week, of course, didn't come without fielding questions about "The Game" against Ohio State — a rivalry the Wolverines' first-year coach said he believes can eliminate the "hatred" and animosity component between himself and Ryan Day while still keeping the intensity that makes it one of the sport's best.

"A rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor," Whittingham said on Thursday at Big Ten Media Days. "I don’t think there is any place for that personally. I think Ryan Day is a good person. To sit here and say I hate Ryan Day, I'd be making crap up, because that’s not true."

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Whittingham enters the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry at a particularly heated moment, with tensions peaking in 2024 after Michigan's fourth straight win over Ohio State.

Following the win — which kept the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten championship — several Wolverines players planted a Michigan flag at the "O" logo at midfield at Ohio Stadium, which led to a heated brawl between the teams and police officers deploying pepper spray.

Before that iteration of the rivalry, Day gave a rather candid response to a Columbus TV station on the feeling of losing to Michigan, acknowledging what's at stake when both teams meet.

"We've felt what it's like to not win this game, and it's bad. It's one of the worst things that's happened to me in my life, quite honestly," Day said in 2024. "Other than losing my father and a few other things, it's quite honestly for my family, the worst thing that's happened."

Michigan dropped last year's edition of "The Game" in Ann Arbor 27-9, which happened to be Sherrone Moore's last game as the Wolverines coach before he was fired with cause for having an "inappropriate relationship" with a staff member.

Part of Whittingham's downplaying of personal animosity surrounding the Week 13 rivalry included mentioning that he's "old school" and focused on taking things one game at a time, something he reiterated Thursday during an appearance on "SportsCenter" with Hannah Storm.

"Everybody knows that game's looming out there," Whittingham said at the podium on Thursday. "The best-case scenario, it comes down to that 12th game, that's for all the marbles in the Big Ten. That would be ideal. Hopefully that happens."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham has no 'hatred' for Ohio State

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