Nick Saban said he was \u201cshocked\u201d to see his former Alabama quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, publicly call out his Miami Dolphins teammates for not showing up to team meetings last week.<\/p>\n
However, Saban added, he was \u201cproud\u201d of how Tagovailoa owned up to his mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I always try to tell our players is you never criticize another player, and in my entire coaching career, you never saw me criticize one of our players,\u201d Saban said on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show\u201d<\/a> on Friday. \u201cI think everybody\u2019s got to take responsibility for what they can control, and if you start worrying about things that you can\u2019t control, that\u2019s going to start affecting things that you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n Tagovailoa played under Saban for the Crimson Tide from 2017 to 2019. He served primarily as the 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 claim his sixth of seven total national championships.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he threw some guys under the bus, and maybe they\u2019re not playing the way they should play \u2026 but you don\u2019t say that about your teammate,\u201d Saban said. \u201cBut I really was proud of the way he came back and sort of took accountability for making a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n After Miami fell to 1-5 on Sunday with 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 keep the team from having a \u201cwoe is me\u201d mentality, Tagovailoa said it starts with leadership, and then unveiled some deeper issues within the team culture.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings,\u201d Tagovailoa said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? It\u2019s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up, and it started with the little things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n