A.J. Perez

USA TODAY Sports

Sage Steele anchored ESPN’s Masters coverage on Wednesday morning as part of SportsCenter on the Road, a day after the network tapped Michelle Beadle as the new host of NBA Countdown on ABC and ESPN.

Steele hasn’t commented on Instagram or Twitter --- where she has spurred controversy in the past --- since ESPN announced Beadle’s new hosting role. ESPN spokesperson Ben Cafardo told USA TODAY Sports in an email that Steele will be focused on her SportsCenter on the Road duties and is “in the midst of several high-profile assignments such as the Final Four, The Masters, the NBA Playoffs and the NBA Finals on ABC.”

Those NBA playoff duties, however, will be on SportsCenter and not NBA Countdown, a show she had hosted since the start of the 2013-14 season.

Steele agreed to a multiyear contract in September 2016 as ESPN announced that she would be the lead host of SportsCenter on the Road ---- where the set for the iconic highlights show travels to major sporting events --- to go along with her NBA Countdown gig.

In January, she was blasted over an Instagram post from Los Angeles International Airport as hundreds protested President Trump’s first executive order that attempted to halt all travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Steele was also critical of Mike Evans after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver sat during the national anthem to protest Trump’s election. The post inspired a blacklish on Twitter, including from Miko Grimes, wife of Bucs cornerback Brent Grimes.

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