SAN JOSE, Calif. — You likely don’t know him, but you have probably seen him. You’re probably not familiar with his name. His job is to be in the background, to live in the shadows, while at the same time heavily shaping and influencing the foreground.
Josh Maxson won’t play a snap in Monday’s national championship game against Clemson, but he had the most difficult job Saturday morning at Alabama’s media day. He stood off to the side of head coach Nick Saban’s podium. Dressed in a pair of slacks and a gray three-quarter-zip pullover, he shuffled his weight nervously from one leg to the other, arms folded. Who could blame him for being uncomfortable?
Advertisement
This was his day. He was responsible for every word uttered, every action recorded. His title is officially Alabama’s assistant athletics director, football communications. More traditionally, he’s known as a sports information director or head of media relations.
So imagine the weight on his shoulders during Saturday’s open one-hour media free-for-all. Hundreds of media shuffled about asking players and coaches whatever they wanted, and Maxson was helpless to control any of it. All in all, it’s probably one of his worst nightmares.
It’s in those times, moments that Maxson can’t control, that he falls back on the knowledge that he’s provided everything he can for the players. Media training is a constant at Alabama. From providing a potential answer to any question, to making the players aware of what questions they can expect, to how the players dress and carry themselves, Maxson and Alabama have attempted to cover every angle.
Make no mistake, though, if those players slip up and say the wrong thing, it falls on him. He’s responsible for it. That’s why his job is so difficult. Imagine being responsible for everything 18- to 22-year-old college football players say. It’s an uneasy position.
“I think that Josh is incredibly important to our program,” senior running back Damien Harris said. “He does a great job of during fall camp educating us. We have public speaking experts. They come in and break everything down for us on how to build your own brand. Everybody is recognized as a great football player or else you wouldn’t really be here, but how can you make and create value for yourself off the field? The way that you do interviews, the way you handle the media, the way you build yourself, your team, your opponents, even how you can appeal to the media. Every program deserves a Josh Maxson, but I think he’s the best in the business.”
Advertisement
His job begins anew every season with new, young players entering the program. During fall camp, a media expert, Lisa LeMaster, is brought in to teach the players how to answer questions and build their own brand my taking ownership of each appearance in front of reporters.
There are a few simple rules.
- Never talk bad about the other team
- Lift up your teammates in every opportunity
- Don’t be selfish and talk about yourself too much
- Always put the team first
- Talk positively about the opponent
“It’s pretty common-sense stuff,” offensive tackle Matt Womack said. “The media, maybe they’re not the enemy, but they’re always trying to get you to say something wrong. There are definitely some who try to trip you up and say the wrong stuff. They always try to put you in a backwards question that’s going to make you say something bad. I always try to think before I say something.”
That thought process played out in a teammate’s mind in real time last week before the Orange Bowl when star defensive lineman Quinnen Williams froze mid-sentence when talking about Oklahoma Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Kyler Murray. Instead of being critical of Murray, which was sort of the road he was headed down, Williams simply stopped talking. It was in that moment that he reflected back on all the media training he’s had and to everything Maxson had told him all season.
“Josh does an incredible job of making sure we don’t say the wrong things,” Harris said. “He does a great job of educating us on how to display ourselves with high character, high class, high morale. Kids who are coming out of high school, some of them like to speak their mind and go out and say whatever they want. But you can’t do that.”
On top of that, Maxson often is at odds with someone. It comes at him from three angles, a sort of triangle of dysfunction.
If something goes wrong or a player says the wrong thing, Saban lets him know in no uncertain terms. He and his staff are in charge of getting players to meet with reporters, frequently when they have no desire to do so. When the players are upset, they let him know. He also must maintain a relationship with reporters, who are sometimes angry at him about a lack of access. Sometimes those reporters are the same ones who are responsible for him getting an angry phone call from Saban or a player. He’s caught in the middle trying to keep it all afloat.
Advertisement
“Can you imagine all that goes into it?” Alabama men’s golf coach Jay Seawell said. Maxson worked closely with Seawell as his sports information director for years. Seawell is also close with Saban, so he understands the dynamics at play.
“This is a big program with a lot of people. There are things coming at all angles,” Seawell said. “Stories here and stories there. There’s a leak here. Find it and plug it. And you’ve got to have somebody who sees that, hears that and then has the ability to process, ‘How do we handle this?’ ”
Maxson’s strategy during media day was to stay with Saban. If Saban couldn’t hear a question, Maxson prodded reporters to speak up. When they stood too far away for Saban to make out clearly what they were asking, he asked them to get closer to the podium. When one reporter asked a bizarre question to Saban about the team’s arrival at the airport, he silently stewed. While he stayed with Saban, other Alabama media relations staff, including Jessica Paré and Alex Thompson, walked around the arena, there for the players if needed.
“Josh? That’s a tough job,” senior center Ross Pierschbacher said.
Pierschbacher has been one of Maxson’s reliable media guys — he has a few every season — for nearly as long as he’s been on campus. He consistently shows up. He always says the right thing. He gives Alabama exactly what it wants from a player out of an interview. But with 85 scholarship players, they can’t all be like Pierschbacher or Harris or Jonah Williams.
Heck, even guys who don’t get chosen to do interviews buck back at Maxson.
“There are guys in there griping at Josh, ‘Why can’t I go up and talk?’ He kind of catches heat from both sides,” Pierschbacher said. “I think he catches heat from Coach Saban a lot as well. So he’s got a tough job. Hats off to that guy. He keeps it real with you. I think he always has our best interest in mind.”
Advertisement
The players like to push his buttons sometimes, needle him when they can because they know he can be high-strung.
“I’ve seen Josh very stressed out. I’ve seen him very red in the face,” Harris said. “Because it’s not an easy job and not everybody can do it. I think he has a lot to do with the success that we’ve had because that’s another key piece that goes into us as players having a lot of high-character values, things like that, and I think it adds to the success of our team on the field.”
When Saban gets agitated during interviews, it’s Maxson to whom he looks, just off the stage to Saban’s right. The slow look at Maxson usually means something went awry during a news conference. Maxson wears the uncomfortable stare, knowing it’s part of the job to be caught between reporters and the coach.
“I know that sometimes the media thinks that I’m not especially fond of what you do, but I really do appreciate what you do in more ways than you know, because you do bring a lot of attention to our sport, you create a lot of interest in our sport,” Saban said. “You bring a lot of self-gratification to a lot of players by reinforcing their hard work and the things that they do to have success, and Josh does an outstanding job of organizing that for our entire organization, not just for me but for all the players.
“We also do a significant amount of training for our players so that they can create value for themselves when they do have the opportunity to sort of brand themselves in front of the media, in front of the public. I think his role is critical, and I think he’s done an outstanding job.”
If Alabama wins Monday night, you’ll see Maxson. He’ll be in the background of Saban’s postgame on-the-field interview, continuing to shape the message of Alabama football.
(Photos by Max Olson / The Athletic)
