Maria Taylor

Maria Taylor is an American TV host. She has worked for ESPN and the SEC Network. She has covered college football, college volleyball, NBA, NFL, and college men's and women's basketball.

Prior to 2012, Taylor was reporter and host for IMG College at the University of Georgia for three years. She also appeared on various studio shows including Dawg Report, SEC Men's Basketball Tonight, and SportsNite.

In 2013, Taylor was the sideline reporter on ESPN2’s weekly Saturday-night primetime college football telecast in addition to the Orange Bowl, her second consecutive year covering the annual bowl game. She has been an analyst on the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Show, NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Preview Show and also ESPN's coverage of both the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament and Women's Volleyball National Championship for the previous two years.

Taylor joined the SEC Network in 2014. She is a college football reporter on SEC Network with commentator Brent Musburger and Jesse Palmer. She is also an analyst on other SEC telecasts, including volleyball and women's basketball. In 2017, Maria joined the ESPN College GameDay broadcast team as reporter and host, replacing Samantha Ponder, and was an ESPN host and reporter for the College Football Playoff between the University of Georgia and the University of Oklahoma. Subsequently, she was a host and reporter for the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia. Taylor works the ABC broadcast of Saturday night football as a sideline reporter, with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit calling the game from the booth.

In 2019, Taylor began hosting NBA Countdown, the pre-game show for ESPN's Friday night and Sunday afternoon NBA games. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ESPN scrapped its original plan for The Jump, hosted by Rachel Nichols, to serve as the NBA Finals pregame show, and instead named Taylor's NBA Countdown the Finals pregame and halftime show. In 2020, she was the sideline reporter for Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Giants Monday Night Football opener.

In July 2021, Taylor left ESPN after the 2021 NBA Finals. Taylor is expected to end up with NBC and cover the Olympics.

In 2015, Taylor Co-Founded a non-profit organization called The Winning Edge Leadership Academy. The mission of the Winning Edge is to educate, foster professional mentoring relationships, provide networking opportunities and enrichment scholarships to ethnic minorities and women who are seeking careers in the sports industry. Since 2015, the academy has helped 16 students work towards job or internship placement and provided mentoring and funding for professional enrichment trips.