Kyle Whittingham has been all over the news for the wrong reasons in his first (and potentially only) season as head coach of Michigan, proving that he’s just not the right fit in Ann Arbor.
“How has he proved that in just eight games?” you might ask. He’s doing so by showing that he doesn’t quite understand Michigan’s two biggest rivalries against Michigan and Michigan State.
On Monday, he may have overcorrected just a tad too much.
Whittingham was asked if he reflected on the way he spoke about the Ohio State rivalry over the summer, neglecting to use the word hate to describe the Buckeyes, and he answered with “I don’t want to paint or come across that rivalries aren’t important” and then followed that up by saying that the Michigan vs. Michigan State game is “the Super Bowl, particularly for them”.
Arrogance just enters your body once you become the head coach at Michigan apparently.
#Michigan HC Kyle Whittingham got asked a LOT about Michigan State and the rivalry including how he may even respond to questions about it all...
— Brice Marich (@BriceMarich) November 2, 2026
“I don't want to paint or come across as that rivalries aren't important. They are. This game is the Super Bowl, particularly for… pic.twitter.com/BpkB2MJi1K
Anyone who has followed Whittingham throughout his career knows that he’s not a fiery guy and he’s pretty calm and level-headed, so the outcry over his lackluster answers about the rivalry should be tempered. This is just who he is. What is shocking is the fact that he has a newfound arrogance, calling the Michigan vs. Michigan State game the “Super Bowl particularly for them”.
While this is how most Michigan fans think privately, you never want to say this out loud as a head coach because it almost always backfires.
Does that mean Michigan State is going to use this as fuel and pick up a big win on Saturday in Ann Arbor? Not necessarily, but the Spartans had an extra week to prepare and Pat Fitzgerald isn’t going to take those words lightly.
The fanbase sure hasn’t.
Kyle Whittingham just doesn’t get it; Pat Fitzgerald does
Fortunately for Michigan State, it finally has a head coach who understands the rivalry again after a two-year hiatus when Jonathan Smith wanted to “win that thing” and he really cared about “that sucker”. Now, Michigan has their own version of Smith, but Whittingham’s overcorrection with his Super Bowl comments aren’t sitting well with his own fanbase.
Yes, they want him to take these rivalries seriously, but he doesn’t need to be giving the Spartans any more bulletin-board material or motivation. That’s exactly what he did.
It is the Super Bowl — for both sides.
Fitzgerald understands that and it’s what has endeared him to the Michigan State fanbase despite a 2-6 start to his tenure. Whittingham said what he thought the fans wanted to hear and took an arrogant approach. Fans want him to treat this like it’s Michigan’s Super Bowl, too.
Whittingham was part of the “The Holy War” between Utah and BYU for so long that he doesn’t know how to handle other rivalries.
You can take the coach out of Utah but you can’t take Utah out of the coach.
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