Who is Rachel Nichols?
Rachel Nichols or Rachel Michele Nichols born on October 18, 1973, is an American sports broadcaster who is currently a television host for ESPN, a sports reporter, and an anchor. She hosts an NBA discussion show called The Jump; weekdays on ESPN, it covers news and stories from around the league and features a panel of NBA analysts and players.
Journalist Rachel Nichols Biography, Wiki
Rachel Nichols was born Rachel Michele Alexander. She is a 1991 graduate of Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland and graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1995.
Rachel Nichols married film and music video director Max Nichols, son of film and stage director Mike Nichols, in a Jewish ceremony in Venice in 2001. Together, they have two children, twin daughters. She also has one older brother and one younger brother.
| Born | Rachel Michele Alexander October 18, 1973 (age 47) Potomac, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Other names | Rachel Francis |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupation | Sports journalist, Television host |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Notable credit(s) | NBA on TNT Unguarded with Rachel Nichols SportsCenter Monday Night Football Monday Night Countdown Sunday NFL Countdown E:60 The Jump |
| Spouse(s) | Max Nichols (m. 2001) |
| Children | 2 |
Rachel Nichols Comment On Maria Taylor
A Disparaging Video Prompts Explosive Fallout Within ESPN. In comments still rippling through the network, the reporter Rachel Nichols, who is white, said Maria Taylor, who is Black, earned the job to host 2020 N.B.A. finals coverage because ESPN was “feeling pressure” on diversity.
A bombshell report from the New York Times on Sunday revealed there is allegedly heavy internal strife at ESPN stemming comments about diversity that NBA sideline reporter and “The Jump” host Rachel Nichols made about her colleague Maria Taylor, NBA and NFL reporter and the host of “NBA Countdown.”
According to the New York Times, Nichols made these comments in July 2020 after ESPN told her that Taylor, who is Black, would be hosting coverage of the NBA Finals instead of her. Nichols sought advice from LeBron James’ longtime advisor Adam Mendelsohn and James’ agent Rich Paul on a call that was reportedly accidentally recorded because Nichols hadn’t turned her video camera off.
During the call, Nichols can be heard saying that she feels like Taylor is only being promoted over her due to ESPN’s long and terrible record on diversity.
“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said in July 2020 via the New York Times. “If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”
Also Read: About ESPN Maria Taylor
Rachel Nichols Career
Rachel Nichols began her career as a sports journalist in the 1990s, first writing for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel sports page (1995–1996) before covering the NHL’s Washington Capitals for the Washington Post (1996–2004). She joined ESPN in 2004, where she became a regular part of SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown, as well as a regular on the network’s NFL and NBA coverage. Nichols was also a correspondent for E:60 and worked as the sideline reporter on a number of Monday Night Football broadcasts.
In 2013, she left ESPN for CNN and began hosting Unguarded with Rachel Nichols in October of that year. The program would change from a regular series to an occasional special by October of the subsequent year. Sports Illustrated has called Nichols “the country’s most impactful and prominent female sports journalist.” Nichols was widely praised for her tough questioning of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the wake of the Ray Rice scandal and likewise for confronting boxer Floyd Mayweather on his history of domestic violence. During this same period, Nichols also worked the sidelines for Turner Sports’ NBA on TNT program from 2013–2016, working both regular season and playoff games.
Since her return to ESPN in 2016, she has co-hosted The Jump, a daily discussion show she created covering the NBA. In 2019, she was named host of NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC and the NBA Finals on ABC. She also became a recurring guest-host on the podcast Pardon My Take (2016–present), as well as on the TV show Pardon the Interruption.
Rachel Nichols Achievements
Rachel Nichols has been named one of Esquire’s “Women We Love” and one of The Hollywood Reporter‘s “10 Most Powerful Voices in Sports Media”. She was also named to Sports Illustrated‘s “Twitter 100” in 2013 and 2014 and to Sports Illustrated “MMQB 100”.
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