Nick Saban apologized to Maria Taylor for his rude answer

Nick Saban phoned ESPN reporter Maria Taylor to apologize for a rude answer he gave her to a question about Alabama’s quarterback situation on Saturday, ESPN says.

Alabama looked very Alabama-ish in destroying Louisville in Week 1, 51-14. The most notable part of a boring blowout was that Alabama started sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa instead of junior incumbent Jalen Hurts.

The Tide were going to beat Louisville no matter what, but Tagovailoa outshined his counterpart and appeared to claim the job long-term. He was 12 of 16 passing for 227 yards, two touchdowns, and a 235.4 passer rating. Hurts was 5 of 9 for 70 yards and a 120.9.

Saban, who spent the entire offseason insisting he didn’t have a QB preference and that the Tide didn’t have a controversy, tried to stay quiet on Saturday. When sideline reporter Taylor asked seconds before the game who would start, Saban told her she could wait another 30 seconds to find out the answer.

Immediately after the win, Taylor found Saban on the field. She asked the obvious question any reporter would ask: what answers had Bama gotten at QB?

Saban was angry in response:

“Well, I still like both guys. I think both guys are good players,” Saban started, calmly. “I think both guys can help our team, all right? So why do you continually try to get me to say something that doesn’t respect one of ‘em? I’m not going to, so quit asking.”

Taylor kept her cool afterward.

Saban carried his mood to his postgame press conference, warning reporters not to make things worse:

Anyway, Tagovailoa is going to be Bama’s starter going forward. Reporters are going to keep asking about it, because that’s their job. We’ll see how Saban responds.