Nick Saban winds back the hands of time to offer Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa one final coaching lesson from afar after recent controversy

Nick Saban winds the clock back like its 2018 on The Pat McAfee Show.

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer
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Alabama head coach Nick Saban talks with Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) during the New Mexico State game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday September 7, 2019. Uaseason017 © Mickey Welsh, Montgomery Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Tua Tagovailoa found himself in some pretty hot water this week after yet another frustrating last minute loss. The Miami Dolphins stormed back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit thanks in large part to the best football Tagovailoa had played on the day — only to see the defense allow a late lead to slip away. Tagovailoa, in the aftermath of the contest, proceeded to throw some shade at teammates for the extra work they have (or haven’t) been doing behind the scenes.

Tagovailoa has since apologized to his teammates. But the football world has yet to stop talking about it. And now, one of the most formative figures in all of football (and Tagovailoa’s career) has chimed in. On a Friday appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, Tagovailoa’s head coach at the University of Alabama, Nick Saban, chimed it.

And it felt like Saban winding back the hands of time for one final coaching lesson from afar.

Nick Saban offers one final coaching point for Tua Tagovailoa from afar

“I am proud of the way (Tua) handled it but one of the things I always try to tell our players is ‘you never criticize another player’, and in my entire coaching career you never, ever saw me criticize one of our players. I think everybody’s got to take responsibility for what they can control and if you start worrying about things that you can’t control, that’s going to start effecting things that you can control. But if everybody takes responsibility for their own self-determination and do what they can do to make the team better — I was really shocked that Tua did what he did, when he threw some guys under the bus. And maybe they’re not playing the way they should play, I’m not taking up for the guys. But you don’t say that about your teammate. I really was proud of the way he came back and sort of took accountability for making a mistake.”

— Nick Saban on The Pat McAfee show discussing Tua Tagovailoa’s Week 6 post-game comments

Nick Saban’s coaching career with the Miami Dolphins

  • Head coach of the Miami Dolphins for the 2005-2006 seasons
  • 15-17 career record in Miami
  • Helped Jason Taylor win 2006 AP Defensive Player of the Year
  • Left Miami to take head coach job of Alabama Crimson Tide

You may not want to hear from Nick Saban on just about anything pertaining to the Dolphins these days, given his unceremonious exit from the franchise in 2006. I get it. But it should be notable that Coach Saban, who was obviously a formative figure in Tagovailoa’s football career, went as far as he did to acknowledge what so many other former players and pundits have said — this shouldn’t have been said.

Some continue to maintain it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was made out to be.

Saban, on the other hand, seems to take exception like so many others have. It underscores how stuck the Dolphins feel in their current predicament that he would go so far as to say it, knowing full well that he was told and taught as far back as Alabama to not go there. And it also highlights just how much extra noise Tagovailoa did add to Miami’s season even despite apologizing for his comments on Wednesday. Players were asked about it mid-week and even those within the locker room offered varying opinions on it as well, from “no comment” to not a big deal.

It’s probably safe to assume that Tagovailoa won’t make this mistake again after the blowback early in the week. But a little coaching point from afar by one of his most formative figures in football almost guarantees it.

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