Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham responded to accusations from former players that felt “pressured by coaches to play through injuries” on Tuesday’s edition of the “Dan Patrick Show.”
Six former Utah players “raised questions about how the program handled their injuries” in a Salt Lake Tribune article last week.
“Never in my career have I ever tried to sway, influence — whatever the word is — our medical staff, wherever I’ve been. We listen to the medical staff, if they say a player is available, we go with that, and if they say he’s not available, we go with that,” Whittingham said.
“I’m not sure where this came from, just how it ever materialized, but never in my career have we ever crossed the line of trying to override a medical decision by our medical staff.”
That wasn’t the only Utah-related question the now-Michigan coach was asked in the interview. Patrick also asked Whittingham if he could have stayed at Utah if he wanted to.
“I believe that probably would have been in the cards, I think, if push came to shove. I had two years left on my contract, but I’ve always been the type of guy, don’t wear out your welcome,” Whittingham said. “It felt like that was starting to happen and overstaying your welcome is something that I had made a conscious decision not to do several years ago.”
“You just don’t want to stay somewhere too long. Maybe I did stay too long as it was, I don’t know, but I’m grateful for the situation I’m in now and couldn’t be happier with what’s going on here at Michigan.”
Was it a mutual parting?
“That’s probably on some people’s part back there, yeah, I’d say, depending on who you talk to,” Whittingham said.
Michigan opens the season against Western Michigan on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MDT (NBC).