When Bill Belichick leads North Carolina on the field for his first game as the Tar Heels head coach against TCU on Sept. 1, don’t expect to see the person he’s made headlines with this offseason accompanying him.
Belichick told reporters this week that his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, will not be on the sideline for any UNC game this upcoming season. He also added that Hudson isn’t a member of the Tar Heels’ football program.
“No, she doesn’t have any role in the UNC football program,” Belichick said when asked if Hudson would be on the sideline for games this season. “But, again, there’s been noise out there about a lot of different things. Again, our focus is day to day, getting better, stacking good days together. Having good rest, recovery, and training. Moving forward the next day.”
Belichick’s affirmation that Hudson isn’t a member of UNC’s football program matches what he told ESPN at the ACC’s spring meetings in May, saying that she “doesn’t have anything to do with football.”
While Belichick has said Hudson has no role with the football program, emails obtained by The Assembly in March showed that Belichick asked UNC staff to copy Hudson on every email sent to him. That led to speculation about her involvement with UNC’s football program, with Pablo Torre reporting that Hudson had been banned from the school’s football facilities in May. However, UNC denied that report.
“While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” the school said in a statement on May 9. “Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”
As Belichick and UNC have asserted that Hudson has no role with the football program, that hasn’t stopped the couple from being commonly mentioned in headlines this offseason. Belichick insisted that they haven’t, and won’t, be a distraction, though.
“Look, I’m really focused on doing my job here at North Carolina … that’s my big focus,” Belichick said. “Is there noise out there? We’ve always dealt with that. Really, our job is to build a football team and … help build the team and also build their individual careers. So that’s really where we’re at.”
A clip from Belichick’s interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” went viral in late April when Hudson interrupted to shut down a question. That interview caused some to dig into Belichick’s personal life, with intimate details of his and Hudson’s relationship emerging as a result.
Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson have been commonly spotted together this offseason. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
After notably being close-guarded during his 24-year tenure as the New England Patriots’ head coach, the developments of what’s happened over the last month have been off-brand for Belichick. But he didn’t seem to share any regrets over what has transpired when asked if he would’ve returned to coaching had he known there would’ve been this much interest in his personal life.
“On some of the noises out there, the book and stuff like that, it is what it is. That’s a personal venture I entered into when I wasn’t in coaching last year,” Belichick said, referring to the promotional tour of his recently released book “The Art of Winning: Lessons from a Life in Football.” “Hopefully, that will be a big purchase on Father’s Day.”
The off-field drama surrounding Belichick and Hudson led many to speculate whether he’d remain UNC’s head coach for much longer. There was also a clause in his contract that allowed him to get out of his contract for just $1 million on June 1, dropping from the previous penalty of $10 million.
[Related: June 1 has arrived. What does that mean for Bill Belichick and UNC?]
But as UNC and Belichick continue to host football camps in June, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach has remained committed to the Tar Heels. He’s also appreciative of the level of commitment his players have shown this offseason, too.
“Look, these are great kids to work with, they really are,” Belichick said. “We’ve had great buy-in. There have really been no problems at all. These guys are on time, they’re early, they work hard, they put in the work in the weight room, out on the field. They spend time on their own, whether it’s doing extra training or coming over and watching film and that type of thing.
“They’ve made a ton of improvement and these guys are a lot better than they were when we started in January, on every level. So it’s exciting to see where that’s going to take us.”
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