Nick Saban said he was “shocked” to see his former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa publicly call out his Miami Dolphins teammates for not showing up to team meetings last week.
However, Saban added, he was “proud” of the way Tagovailoa acknowledged his mistake.
“One of the things I always try to tell our players is you never criticize another player, and in my entire coaching career you’ve never seen me criticize one of our players,” Saban said on “The Pat McAfee Show” Friday. “I think everyone has to take responsibility for what they can control, and if you start worrying about the things you can’t control, it’s going to start affecting the things you can control.”
Tagovailoa played under Saban for the Crimson Tide from 2017 to 2019. He primarily served as a backup to Jalen Hurts as a freshman in 2017, but replaced Hurts in the second half of the national championship game. In overtime against Georgia, Tagovailoa threw the game-winning 41-yard touchdown pass, helping Saban win his sixth of seven national championships overall.
“When he threw some guys under the bus, and maybe they’re not playing the way they should be playing…but you don’t say that about your teammate,” Saban said. “But I was really proud of the way he came back and he kind of took responsibility for his mistake.”
After Miami fell to 1-5 on Sunday following a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Tagovailoa was visibly frustrated as he spoke to reporters about some of the issues plaguing the Dolphins. When asked how he could prevent the team from having a “woe is me” mentality, Tagovailoa said it starts with leadership and then uncovers deeper issues within the team culture.
“We have guys who show up late to player meetings, and guys who don’t show up to player meetings,” Tagovailoa said. “There’s a lot to do in there. Should we make this mandatory? Shouldn’t we make this mandatory? There’s a lot of things of that nature that we need to clean up, and it started with little things like that.”
Tagovailoa’s comments were met with disappointment from former NFL players, executives, former teammates and Miami coach Mike McDaniel. On Monday, McDaniel said he believed Tagovailoa had no ill intentions, but acknowledged the postgame press conference was “not the forum” to express such frustrations.
On Wednesday, Tagovailoa apologized for his mistake and said he wanted to admit it.
“I talked to the guys on the team, to the management. They know my heart. They know the intention was good,” he said. “But whatever the intention – the intention may be right – but when things are misinterpreted, or however the media wants to portray it, it leaves a void of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team.”
Tagovailoa went on to say that he felt he failed to protect the team and that he let emotions get the best of him in that moment.
“It’s something I can learn from, as the leader of this team,” he said. “What’s going on internally should be protected, and none of this should have been leaked. So I want to publicly apologize for it, I want to move forward and I want to focus on the Cleveland Browns now.”
Tagovailoa has a 69.8 percent completion rate through six games and has totaled 1,213 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
