{"id":6060,"date":"2026-08-16T21:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/16\/kyle-whittingham-focused-on-beating-not-hating-ohio-state\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T21:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:49:10","slug":"kyle-whittingham-focused-on-beating-not-hating-ohio-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/16\/kyle-whittingham-focused-on-beating-not-hating-ohio-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Whittingham focused on beating, not hating Ohio State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Michigan football team has a new sheriff in town with first-year coach Kyle Whittingham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like any first-year coach, Whittingham has brought his fair share of change to Ann Arbor, most of it being much-needed given the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/sports\/college\/university-michigan\/wolverines\/2025\/12\/23\/michigan-football-sherrone-moore-arrest\/87889500007\/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=false&amp;gca-epti=z119364p119850c119850u001564e1126xxv119364&amp;gca-ft=254&amp;gca-ds=sophi\">dysfunction<\/a> that occurred within Schembechler Hall last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whittingham also led with a new perspective on that school down south. To many Wolverines fans, Whittingham isn\u2019t fulfilling a simple prerequisite to becoming a Michigan man: hating Ohio State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(Hate is) a strong word, but I want to win that game as bad as anybody in Ann Arbor,\u201d Whittingham said at Big Ten Football Media Days on July 30.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, Whittingham addressed the media for the first time since those comments. He acknowledged the stir his remarks created, but Whittingham stayed true to his battle plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWould we have a better chance to win if I hated them?\u201d Whittingham said Wednesday. \u201cWhatever gives us the best chance to win, I\u2019m all for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whittingham\u2019s approach doesn\u2019t lend itself toward having intense feelings toward the Buckeyes. Instead, he\u2019s remaining focused on the ultimate bottom line: winning games. And that perspective has been adapted by the on-field commander of Michigan\u2019s offense, the guy whose performance will possibly be most influential in the outcome of the Wolverines\u2019 season, as well as Michigan\u2019s trip to Columbus in late November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery game, we\u2019re trying to be one and zero this year,\u201d Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood said July 30 when asked about \u201cThe Game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite two of Michigan\u2019s leaders not lending as much external emotion toward that contest in late November, its significance has not been downplayed inside Schembechler Hall. As it is for Wolverines and Ohio State fans alike, the game certainly remains a date circled on the calendar for Michigan. Its stakes and intensity are very much alive inside the program, and that should lend itself to contribute to what Whittingham \u2014 and fans \u2014 care about most: winning.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s periods in practice or the weight room that it\u2019s talked about,\u201d Whittingham said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the countdown clocks. We\u2019re not trying to downplay it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whittingham\u2019s more measured, business-like approach to the game reflects the general energy change inside Schembechler Hall. A stark contrast to the chaos of the previous regime, Whittingham has brought a sense of normalcy and professionalism to the Wolverines\u2019 football program. It\u2019s in-character that he\u2019s not coming out and making boisterous comments about how much he hates the Buckeyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After all, it was former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore that mimicked a flag-planting gesture at a basketball game just weeks after Wolverines\u2019 players planted a Michigan flag at midfield after beating Ohio State. The following year, he oversaw a Michigan team that got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/michigan-undone-by-ohio-state-offense-drops-the-game-for-the-first-time-in-four-years-27-9\/\">trounced<\/a> by that rival at home. And that wasn\u2019t even close to the worst thing that happened with Moore in the weeks that followed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, Whittingham is no stranger to intense rivalries. In his tenure at Utah, he commanded the Utes in the Holy War against Brigham Young at the end of nearly every season. To boot, Whittingham went 11-6 against the Cougars \u2014 a much better mark than the multiple Buckeye-loathing Wolverine coaching staffs had in that same time span.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, most Michigan fans hate Ohio State. And they don\u2019t just hate the Buckeyes \u2014 they love to talk about <em>how much<\/em> they hate Ohio State.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whittingham isn\u2019t following suit. Because as much as Wolverines fans can\u2019t stand that team down south, what\u2019s most important is what the Ohio Stadium scoreboard says around 3:30 p.m. on Nov 28. That\u2019s where Whittingham\u2019s focus lies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden   newspack-inline-popup       \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Michigan football team has a new sheriff in town with first-year coach Kyle Whittingham. Like any first-year coach, Whittingham has brought his fair share of change to Ann Arbor, most of it being much-needed given the dysfunction that occurred within Schembechler Hall last year. Whittingham also led with a new perspective on that school [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2733,2786,717,3975,1023,361,3976],"class_list":["post-6060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-beating","tag-focused","tag-hating","tag-kyle","tag-ohio","tag-state","tag-whittingham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6062,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6060\/revisions\/6062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}