Detroit — Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham skis, golfs, plays tennis and is a workout fanatic. Soon, he can add race car driver to his resume.
Whittingham, in his first season as the Wolverines’ head coach, will participate in the Fastest Seat in Sports on Sunday just before the start of the Detroit Grand Prix on the downtown streets. The car features a back seat for a passenger, and it leads the starting field to the green flag, so Whittingham will be along for the thrill ride.
IndyCar series driver Graham Rahal, a fierce Ohio State fan, said he’s eager to meet Whittingham despite being the head coach of the Buckeyes’ rival. Whittingham spent the last 21 years as Utah head coach, taking over after Urban Meyer moved on, and was hired last December to take over at Michigan.
“Honestly, I really I hate to say this, but I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Kyle Whittingham,” Graham, who drives the No. 15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, told a small group of reporters Friday. Obviously, I know (former OSU coach) Coach Meyer quite well, and Kyle’s really his understudy — that’s got to be a weird dinner conversation nowadays.
“But I would love to meet him, and so hopefully I’ll get the chance this weekend, because I’ve always respected what he’s done. I mean, now I can’t cheer for him anymore, but when he was in Utah, he did a hell of a lot of good for a long time. (Michigan) has had an interesting last six months, but hopefully he’ll bring a little bit of calm to the whole thing.”
Rahal is a keen observer of college football, particularly the Michigan-Ohio State game, and said he believes Whittingham will bring stability back to the program and the rivalry.
“I will say I wasn’t a fan of the way Sherrone Moore handled himself,” Rahal said, referring to the former head coach fired for having an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant. “I wasn’t a big fan of his and I thought there was a lot of arrogance even amongst the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. I never felt that way about (Jim) Harbaugh. My dad (Bobby Rahal) met Lloyd Carr, and he had nothing but just amazing things to say about him, and you think while you hate each other, there always has to be that mutual respect, and it just felt like some of that was lost under Sherrone, and there were a lot of guys before that who were not that way.”
Whittingham joins a long list of celebrities, including Tom Brady, to take the high-speed thrill ride. The two-seater will be on track ahead of the field for the race that begins at 12:30 p.m.
achengelis@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham has Buckeye fan Graham Rahal’s respect
Reporting by Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
