Story told by Joel Klatt shows fierce competitiveness of new Michigan football coach

The hiring of Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham on Friday received a ton of positive reaction from national media and from those who follow college football.

One of those reactions came from FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt, posting on X that Whittingham is everything a program would want in a head football coach.

Discipline
Toughness
Physical
Love
Winning

Traits you want in your head coach…they also perfectly describe Kyle Whittingham

Excellent hire
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) December 26, 2025

However, even before Whittingham was hired by the Wolverines, Klatt gave him high praise when he announced he was stepping down at Utah after 21 seasons in the middle of the month.

Klatt told a story from two seasons ago, when he and the FOX crew were on the road to call at Utah game while conducting one of their production meetings with Whittingham ahead of the matchup.

Klatt's story about the now Michigan head coach

Klatt, as an ex-athlete himself, likes to keep in shape and will often work out on a peloton bike even when he's on the road.

Whittingham, according to Klatt, would always work out before production meetings with the FOX team on Fridays. On the particular day Klatt recalls, he said Whittingham checked the bike to see what kind of numbers Klatt posted. Whittingham decided he was going to beat Klatt's times and let him know about it in the meeting.

"Kyle always works out right before he walks into the production meeting," said Klatt. "That's how he's always done it. He always walks in with a towel around his neck and he sits down and he's still sweating a little bit and he does the production meeting. Now, I always love our conversations. Because again, he's honest, he's forthright, loves his team, and he does it the right way.

"But he sits down, and he was like extra tired (that day). And he was sweating hard. And he sits down and he goes, 'I just kicked your a-- on the peloton,'" Klatt recalled. "He stared right at me. And of course, my whole crew starts laughing. And we're just like, 'what, what do you mean?' And he's like 'yeah, I found your name on there.' And so he had found a ride that I had done—like a 45-minute ride, and he found my name on the leaderboard and then he just put it in his head and was like 'well I'm going to beat him today.'

"And he did, and I'm just like—I'm telling you, I rode really hard and it was a high number. It was not an easy number."

Sep 20, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham watches the team warm up before the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Klatt gives Whittingham the highest of praise

In the same video, Klatt gave Whittingham the highest of praises while saying he would send his sons to play for coach Whittingham, knowing he he is a person of high character and teaching the right values.

"The last thing I would say—I've got three sons. And I don't know if they'll be athletes in college—I don't know," Klatt said. "But if any of them were ever to be a college football player, here's the greatest compliment that I can pay any college football coach. Is when I would say I would want my son to play for Kyle Whittingham."

"I just kicked your a** on the Peloton." 🤣@joelklatt shares a behind-the-scenes production meeting story about Kyle Whittingham. pic.twitter.com/NVO4QUHWi4
— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) December 17, 2025

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