Kyle Whittingham Fires Back at Ohio State ‘Hate’ Talk

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Kyle Whittingham apparently has heard enough about whether Michigan’s head coach hates Ohio State enough.

After his comments about The Game generated plenty of discussion over the past couple of weeks, Whittingham returned to the subject and made his position crystal clear.

“Would we have a better chance of beating them if I hated them more?” Whittingham said, according to Anthony Broome. “Want to beat them worse than anyone around, I don’t know how that got to be such a hot topic. … that game is of the utmost importance.”

For Michigan fans wondering whether their new coach understands what happens every November, there is your answer.

Whittingham’s Earlier Comments Started the Debate

The controversy began at Big Ten Media Days when Whittingham was asked about the emotional temperature of Michigan’s rivalry with Ohio State.

“I just think that a rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor. I don’t think there’s any place for that, personally,” Whittingham said.

That was enough to get people talking.

Whittingham also called Ohio State coach Ryan Day a good person and made clear that his respect for the rivalry does not require personal animosity toward everyone associated with Columbus. Some Michigan and Ohio State observers questioned whether that approach fully grasped just how personal The Game becomes on both sides.

Yet the rest of his comments were hardly dismissive.

“It’s the biggest rivalry in the country, in our opinion. Something that’s in the back of mind every single day, but I am old school and I believe in taking it one game at a time,” Whittingham said.

Whittingham Has Been Consistent About The Game

This is not a coach learning about Michigan-Ohio State for the first time.

Whittingham has said he remembers watching Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes battle when he was a child, and the rivalry played a role in his early fascination with college football.

His close friendship with former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer adds another unusual layer. Whittingham worked as Meyer’s defensive coordinator at Utah, and the two have remained close through the years. At Big Ten Media Days, Whittingham said Meyer had talked with him about the significance of The Game during Meyer’s years in Columbus.

“Make no mistake, I understand the implications that it has,” Whittingham said in Chicago.

That should probably have settled the issue then.

Michigan Fans Care About One Thing

There is a simple reality here.

Michigan fans do not need Whittingham to wake up every morning furious at the sight of scarlet and gray. They need him to have his football team ready when Michigan travels to Columbus.

Win, and nobody will care whether Whittingham describes his feelings as hatred, dislike, respect or anything else.

Lose a few times? Then every word he has ever said about Ohio State will get dragged back into the conversation.

That is how this rivalry works.

Whittingham now seems amused that his refusal to use the word “hate” became a storyline at all. His latest answer gets directly to the point: emotional vocabulary does not win The Game.

Preparation does.

Bottom Line

Kyle Whittingham does not appear interested in performing hatred for Ohio State just to satisfy the rivalry police.

What he does insist on is that beating the Buckeyes matters enormously.

“Would we have a better chance of beating them if I hated them more?” is probably the best response he could give. Michigan fans will decide how much they like that philosophy when the Wolverines and Buckeyes actually meet.

Beat Ohio State, and nobody in Ann Arbor will ask how much Whittingham hates them.

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