Was Nick Saban wrong to go off on ESPN's Maria Taylor? Media members weigh in
The college football world was tuning into Alabama’s season opener against Louisville to see who would start at QB, and Tua Tagovailoa certainly did not disappoint. And while some are talking about Tagovailoa’s brilliant game, it’s not the biggest story.
Following Alabama’s 51-14 blowout win over Louisville, Nick Saban went off on ESPN’s Maria Taylor following a post-game question about the QBs. Taylor handled it well, and even responded via Twitter after the game with professionalism.
Saban can get away with a lot with respect to how he handles the media, but media members are hammering him for his response to Taylor.
excellent colleague @MariaTaylor7 asked a fair QB question of Saban – which he must have misinterpreted – and he blew his stack. Unwarranted. It’s a cumulative thing, but NO intent to “disrespect” Hurts. (May be a long, uncomfortable year of press conferences in T-town!)
— Chris Fowler (@cbfowler) September 2, 2018
Saban answered the question to Maria Taylor post game that way because he knows Tua is the guy but doesn't want locker room to be divided.
That answer was delivering a message to his team, not Maria or the audience.
Not a good look, but frankly Saban couldn't care less. https://t.co/8fSHcxHOBQ
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) September 2, 2018
I don’t care if u win every title for the next 5 years it gives u no right to speak to someone that way, if u don’t wanna answer the qb questions then pick a damn qb … and to think he says ‘ I respect the job the media does ‘ 😏
— Booger (@ESPNBooger) September 2, 2018
The only disrespect being shown is toward Jalen Hurts by a coach who isn’t being honest about his role https://t.co/oRmyVwfpEa
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 2, 2018
Nick Saban is wrong for this https://t.co/ZxqBjjIFq0
— Booger (@ESPNBooger) September 2, 2018
And for those saying stop asking the same question , it’s not. The question is what did u learn after watching them play. Totally different. He is wrong A blind man could see Tua is better so if he wants to play the game then answer the question. Simple https://t.co/6bRdDM4VDn
— Booger (@ESPNBooger) September 2, 2018
“Responded critically” …man you guys suck up.
Pure and simple…he handled this like a total jerk. He owes @MariaTaylor7 an apology which I expect he will. Privately, of course, so he doesn’t stop intimidating all the others. https://t.co/pKzUHZO39E
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) September 2, 2018
Nick Saban is the GOAT. He’s also an asshole for acting like @MariaTaylor7 is out of line for asking about his quarterbacks.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) September 2, 2018
I covered Nick Saban his last season at Michigan State. Only thing that has changed is that he’s won titles. Same dude. @MariaTaylor7 handled it well, but I could feel myself taking off my earrings and reaching for my footies watching their exchange.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 2, 2018
Watching GameDay earlier today, told my wife how much I respected @MariaTaylor7. She’s such a pro. She handled herself with pure class in the postgame. Not a surprise.
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) September 2, 2018
Nick Saban is such a curmudgeon. Maria asked him a fair and open ended question. His typical college football coach neurosis is the issue here… not her question https://t.co/HDmv61KVmI
— Jorge Sedano (@SedanoESPN) September 2, 2018
Typical response by the media, no matter what saban says or how he says it, he is ‘jerk’ who ‘rants’ and ‘disrespects’ the media. He didn’t come off nice, but all this hupla is nonsense. Please. Sds relaying tweets from Jamelle Hill is more offensive than sabans attitude. ESPN finally got rid of her, so why is opinion viable?
Eh, but think about this. He has been barraged with this question ever since people started noticing Tua midway through last year. He loves Jalen because he’s 26-2 and has led him to 2 NCG appearances. He knows that his older players probably also love Jalen for that and the excellent way Jalen has handled this, all things considered.
Of course Danny Kannell is going off, but the worst is Booger. His grammar matches his idiotic name.
Every once in a while, we agree. Well said. It has been obvious that Coach has bent over backwards trying to give the job to Jalen, but he simply can’t win it.
His anger came from the fact that he is been askeded that question hundreds of times this off-season. He has answered it the exact same way every time and has actually started getting pretty firm with other reporters as well. She as a reporter knowing all of that still decided to try to push him to change his answer. Yes she asked to calmly but she was absolutely being rude. They were hoping for something like this and they knew to expect him getting angry after asking it over and over and over and over and over.
It gets old.
When the only solution is for a coach to come up with an answer that the media wants when he obviously feels it’s against his team and players best wishes that’s when the media is being the bully.
Asking this of coach when he is coming off the field is not big league journalism. Sure his team had dominated Louisville but they did not look good doing it. He was considerably displeased with that performance. The timing was pathetic. The producer telling her to ask this was insane. Now, do I wish that his response had been more civil? Yes, I do.
Lol now they [media] finally got a controversy they can all feed off like jackels on a carcass. Nice job posting select tweets to reinforce your new controversy.
The sports media had 8 months to come up with one question not related to QBs and failed to do so, and they want us to treat them as victims.
Saban had 8 months to decide on a QB and failed to do so.. if there is still an ongoing competition then the media is right in asking about the quarterbacks performance.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t. I’m saying stop playing the martyr when you suck so bad at sports journalism than you can’t figure out something to ask beyond the lowest common denominator question.
She is probably one of the best sideline reporters in the business..
Also that was the whole discussion going into the game. No one knew who would start. Then Tua did. Hurts also played. It was a fair question. She didnt ask Saban to throw anyone under the bus or to criticize a player.. she simply asked “what answers did you have after watching your quarterbacks play?” There were no answers going into the game so she asked if there were any after he saw them play..
Maria Taylor maybe one of the best sideline reporters, but if the entire industry is subpar, that doesn’t really mean anything objectively.
You just described the sorry state of sports journalism–“that [who would start at QB] was the whole discussion going into the game.” That’s because these people they trot out there are weak at what they do. We already knew Jalen and Tua can compete at a high caliber and that Tua’s the better QB. If these reporters were good sport journalists, they’d be talking about how an entire secondary needed to be replaced and asking about the plethora of issues that Alabama had on defense versus Louisville. Instead, these guys write that off completely.
Saban runs an elite program at a high caliber and is responsible for thousands of decisions. He is a high level performer. While I believe he was right to apologize under the circumstances, I’m not buying that we should shed any tears for these pedestrian sports reporters, with which he’s forced to interact.
Well if Saban would have named Tua the starter ahead of time instead of waiting and letting it carry over into the season then she wouldn’t have asked it. At the time she asked, Saban hadn’t named a starter so to ask how he thought they performed was fair..
Also the whole ‘sorry state of sports journalism’ comment is stupid.. this is Alabama football. It isn’t LSU, UGA, Clemson. It’s Alabama. That is the whole reason the QB controversy was such a big deal. All three of those had qb questions about who is starting and every single head coach of those programs answered those questions politely and also nipped it in the bud to begin with. All Saban said was “whoever wins the team” or “whoever separates themselves”.
He was the one that kept it going with his loyalty to Hurts. Don’t blame the media for asking a question that is fair especially when the competition (at that point) was still going on..
The media spent hundreds of hours talking about QBs and largely neglected all the other aspects of the team and the game of football in their reporting. Then they want whine and moan about Saban, who does perform at a high level, for snapping at someone asking him a variation on the same lowest common denominator question he’s been been asked for 8 months.
I’m not blaming the media for anything. I’m saying they suck at their jobs–identifying and reporting compelling, interesting, and informative stories–and should stop whining about someone who is good at his job getting annoyed with having to continuously deal with their substandard performance.
They spent all those hours because it was one of the biggest stories in college football heading into the 2018 season..
You’re missing the entire point. The question wasn’t “who is starting?” or anything remotely close to that.. She asked how do you think the two quarterbacks performed.. when you have a competition going on at one of the most successful programs in the country it is a fair question.
Saban was irritated by the way his team finished the game and took it out on her. With a response of “Why do you try to make me say something negative about one of them?”
No one is forcing you to do anything nor did they ask you to say something negative about either one of them. She asked about the performance of two quarterbacks who were battling for a starting spot and he got his panties in a wad and acted unprofessional..
Are you really not seeing the circularity in your logic? The reason it was the biggest story is because the media has lazily neglected every other story, because they suck at their job.
No.. the reason why it was the biggest story was because Alabama is the king of college football and quarterback is the most popular position.
What other stories did they neglect? Articles about the secondary doesn’t get the attention that the quarterbacks would get. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t write about them but that doesn’t get the clicks or attention. I’ve seen several articles regarding Alabamas young secondary, the depth at linebacker and replacing all those starters.. but the articles and media attention is always going to be on the quarterback, especially in this type of situation and how the CFP panned out.
If everyone knew Tua was going to be starter, why didn’t Saban just name him the starter during fall camp? All the questions would have been answered before and after the Louisville game. There wouldn’t be a need to ask those questions coming off the field..