Maria Taylor during the 2017 NCAA Women’s Selection Special Presented by Capital One (Photo by Melissa Rawlins / ESPN Images)

Maria Taylor is one of the rising stars at ESPN. The Georgia native began her career with IMG College working for her alma mater Georgia Bulldogs on various UGA-centric shows. In addition to her media career, Taylor was an All-SEC volleyball player for Georgia, a member of the USA A2 national volleyball team and a member of the Georgia women’s basketball team as well. As a former college athlete, Taylor did not stray away from campus as she has been featured on SEC Now and SEC Nation on the SEC Network and as sideline reporter for Saturday Night College Football telecasts on ESPN.

Taylor is part of a revolution in sports media where female correspondents, reporters and analysts are becoming invaluable members of the sports media landscape. Women in sports media were not always thought of as highly as they are now. For years, women were treated as eye candy to viewers while their male counterparts saw them as unworthy to cover sporting events, no matter their previous athletic backgrounds. Much has changed since Taylor started in the industry after graduating with a degree in broadcast news in 2009.

“When I started it was customary to see a woman on the sidelines reporting on a game,” Taylor told DoubleGSports.com. “You would occasionally see a Hannah Storm hosting on SportsCenter and she was one or maybe two when you saw Linda Cohn as well. Now, you can look at the landscape and look at a show like SportsCenter and every time there is a show on, there’s probably a female counterpart to the male. Or you look at a Beth Mowins who is calling an entire football package and blowing it out of the water, you see the roles shifting. Or executives feeling comfortable putting a woman heading up a show for a sport that is only for men and feeling that viewer has become comfortable with women talking about sports and it’s more commonplace.”

“I don’t know if we are ahead or behind the curve but it seems as if it’s much more important to people and I love that it’s growing in that way.”

Maria Taylor on the set of SEC Nation during the 2016 SEC Championship
(Photo by Allen Kee / ESPN Images)

While women in sports news is something that is seen everyday on ESPN and other sports outlets, there are still some that believe that women should not cover sports. This type of thinking primarily shows up on social media where vial comments and statements can be spoken by faceless users. While this type of behavior still goes on, it’s part of the job according to Taylor.

“I think it’s just always going to exist to a certain demographic. There’s always going to be this old school archaic thought that women can’t play baseball so they can’t comment on it or women don’t play football so what could they possibly know about scheme or about the college football landscape. Eventually what those trolls will have to realize is that we have just as much experience as they do. It’s not they’re out there playing college football or made it all the way to the pros. We do what you do. You watch a lot of football and love it, we just paid to talk about it.”

“As long as women are put in places where they flourish and grow and is seen by the public doing things like hosting a football show or being Jessica Mendoza and being the analyst on major baseball packages then they (fans) will get accustomed to it.”

After being a successful NCAA student-athlete during her time at Georgia, Maria received the honor of becoming the studio host for this year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament. Becoming the in-studio face of such a prestigious event is something that Taylor takes seriously and a job she still can not believe that she earned.

“I feel like it’s coming full circle because I remember sitting in rooms watching the selection show with my team. You’re waiting for these people to say your team’s name for two seconds to know that your season in getting to move on. As my career progressed, I was doing a NCAA preview show that happened the day after (the selection show) but I was sitting in a room and watch the selection show to put the show together based on how the brackets were set up. I was hoping that one day I would be able to be a part of the selection show in any way. When I was told coming into this year that I would get host our championship, I couldn’t be happier.”

Maria Taylor, Tim Tebow, Marcus Spears, Greg McElroy and Booger McFarland on the set of SEC Now during the 2017 CFP National Championship Game Presented by AT&T
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)

While Taylor is still in the early stages of her career, her experience is one that many aspiring sports journalists and broadcasters can look at as a template to success. Maria Taylor’s career is one that is not defined by gender but by hard-work and a will to find a fit in sports media. This led her to ESPN and according to Taylor, could lead others to into the field as well no matter your gender.

“The key in the beginning is to diversify. You might think “I just want to be a sideline reporter and I’m like no, learn how to do play-by-play. Learn what it’s like to be an analyst so you know how to set up your analyst. Learn how to anchor and become comfortable being a host because sports media is ever evolving.”

“You see how many more discussion based shows there are or debate-style shows there are. You see that we are no longer just sitting there doing highlights because people get highlights off Twitter. How are you bringing a personality or something different that everyone is not seeing all the time? Being creative, being you and being genuine is going to get you to that next step.”