Maria Taylor Up And Coming
August 09, 2017 | Football
CHARLOTTE, N. C. -- The expansive ESPN campus here is where you find countless broadcast personalities moving about. Like Paul Finebaum, for example--the voice of sports talk broadcasting. Other network announcers come and go as routinely as housewives at a grocery store. It is part of their gig.
One of the most successful and versatile--up and coming--announcers you are likely to bump into here is Atlanta native, Maria Taylor, who was schooled at the University of Georgia's Henry Grady College of Journalism. Good things are happening for her, but she is quick to remember her formative years in Athens, where she learned the basics for developing a broadcasting career. "A lot of good things are happening for me," she said recently, "and one of the most important influences on my life and career was my time at UGA. I don't take that lightly, and I won't ever fail to remember those who helped me get started."
She especially underscored verbal high fives for Lady Dawgs' basketball coach, Andy Landers, for whom she lettered, and Claude Felton, the Bulldogs' virtuoso Sports Information Director. "Don't get me started on Claude," she smiles. "I might not stop for an hour. Such a wonderful friend and advisor. If he were to call right now and ask me drive to Athens for something, I would drop everything and head that way."
Felton, Grady college faculty and others are always giving Maria high marks, but before she says thanks, she unloads kudos in their direction by taking the position that they made her who she is. And who is Maria Taylor at this point in her career? She is reaching the top in her profession but with balanced perspective, never reluctant to say thanks and is quick to express gratefulness for where she is and how she got there. This is why you hear generous praise for those who have influenced her career along the way.
This year has been an impactful year for Maria. She turned 30 years old on May 12th and was promoted by the network a few days after her birthday. This fall, she will be a feature reporter on GameDay and will roam the sidelines for the ESPN/ABC's No. 1 football crew of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.
That's heady stuff for a young woman who has always accentuated the work ethic and relationships as a conduit for success. She is as comfortable with a microphone in her hands as she was with a basketball and volleyball during her competitive days at Georgia.
She studies hard when preparing for a game, even when she knows at halftime she may be interviewing Alabama's Nick Saban as he comes off the field. That is not a time to shoot from the hip. Ask a good question and you get respect. "The last thing you want to do," she says, "is say, 'Man, the offense is struggling, how are you going to fix it?' You might get this response: 'Who says we are struggling? We are not struggling.'"
It became habitual early on in her career to evaluate other announcers, paying close attention to their ability to interview a sports personality, whether in a studio with no distractions or outside a locker room in a tight game with overwhelming distractions.
ESPN has something of a short course for its announcers with a broadcast coach who hosts two-day seminars on how to interview and interact with coaches and players--including how to respond if you get a hardball response. She is mindful of the Georgia graduates who have risen to the pinnacle in television--Amy Robach with "Good Morning America," Deborah Roberts with "ABC's 20/20" and Deborah Norville with "Inside Edition." (And, the first to make it big, Julie Moran, who after co-hosting "NBA Inside Stuff, and later the lead reporter for "Entertainment Tonight," took a break to start a family). In the Grady galaxy, she is to sports what the aforementioned are to news and entertainment.
With a laid back demeanor, Taylor has learned to manage, among other things, the enduring question about her height. Fans in the street in Charlotte don't know her like they do in Athens, most of whom get around to saying, "You're taller than I thought you were." She smiles and explains that at 6-2, that gives her an opportunity to enjoy college athletic competition and that she "can see over some of those linemen when they are in the huddle and confirm exactly what is going on."
There is a vast audience out there who will more readily identify with her this fall. America can't get enough football and when they take in the TV games in a few weeks, they will be getting plenty of Maria Taylor. Her star is rising and her campus fan club, those who have influenced her life and career, will be high-fiving generously in the background. They know that as she is making them proud, she will also be making ESPN's college football audience take note.
One of the most successful and versatile--up and coming--announcers you are likely to bump into here is Atlanta native, Maria Taylor, who was schooled at the University of Georgia's Henry Grady College of Journalism. Good things are happening for her, but she is quick to remember her formative years in Athens, where she learned the basics for developing a broadcasting career. "A lot of good things are happening for me," she said recently, "and one of the most important influences on my life and career was my time at UGA. I don't take that lightly, and I won't ever fail to remember those who helped me get started."
She especially underscored verbal high fives for Lady Dawgs' basketball coach, Andy Landers, for whom she lettered, and Claude Felton, the Bulldogs' virtuoso Sports Information Director. "Don't get me started on Claude," she smiles. "I might not stop for an hour. Such a wonderful friend and advisor. If he were to call right now and ask me drive to Athens for something, I would drop everything and head that way."
Felton, Grady college faculty and others are always giving Maria high marks, but before she says thanks, she unloads kudos in their direction by taking the position that they made her who she is. And who is Maria Taylor at this point in her career? She is reaching the top in her profession but with balanced perspective, never reluctant to say thanks and is quick to express gratefulness for where she is and how she got there. This is why you hear generous praise for those who have influenced her career along the way.
This year has been an impactful year for Maria. She turned 30 years old on May 12th and was promoted by the network a few days after her birthday. This fall, she will be a feature reporter on GameDay and will roam the sidelines for the ESPN/ABC's No. 1 football crew of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.
That's heady stuff for a young woman who has always accentuated the work ethic and relationships as a conduit for success. She is as comfortable with a microphone in her hands as she was with a basketball and volleyball during her competitive days at Georgia.
She studies hard when preparing for a game, even when she knows at halftime she may be interviewing Alabama's Nick Saban as he comes off the field. That is not a time to shoot from the hip. Ask a good question and you get respect. "The last thing you want to do," she says, "is say, 'Man, the offense is struggling, how are you going to fix it?' You might get this response: 'Who says we are struggling? We are not struggling.'"
It became habitual early on in her career to evaluate other announcers, paying close attention to their ability to interview a sports personality, whether in a studio with no distractions or outside a locker room in a tight game with overwhelming distractions.
ESPN has something of a short course for its announcers with a broadcast coach who hosts two-day seminars on how to interview and interact with coaches and players--including how to respond if you get a hardball response. She is mindful of the Georgia graduates who have risen to the pinnacle in television--Amy Robach with "Good Morning America," Deborah Roberts with "ABC's 20/20" and Deborah Norville with "Inside Edition." (And, the first to make it big, Julie Moran, who after co-hosting "NBA Inside Stuff, and later the lead reporter for "Entertainment Tonight," took a break to start a family). In the Grady galaxy, she is to sports what the aforementioned are to news and entertainment.
With a laid back demeanor, Taylor has learned to manage, among other things, the enduring question about her height. Fans in the street in Charlotte don't know her like they do in Athens, most of whom get around to saying, "You're taller than I thought you were." She smiles and explains that at 6-2, that gives her an opportunity to enjoy college athletic competition and that she "can see over some of those linemen when they are in the huddle and confirm exactly what is going on."
There is a vast audience out there who will more readily identify with her this fall. America can't get enough football and when they take in the TV games in a few weeks, they will be getting plenty of Maria Taylor. Her star is rising and her campus fan club, those who have influenced her life and career, will be high-fiving generously in the background. They know that as she is making them proud, she will also be making ESPN's college football audience take note.
