North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick released a public statement on Wednesday, coming to the defense of his girlfriend Jordon Hudson for her behavior during a CBS Sunday Morning interview that the eight-time Super Bowl champion feels was spun to “suggest a false narrative” and his tenure in Chapel Hill is already completely off the rails.
Once Bill Belichick took over at North Carolina, it was obvious that the unlikely partnership would draw plenty of attention, and frankly, that was part of the plan. Belichick seemingly wanted to stick it to the NFL for not offering him another job after he “mutually agreed” to part ways with the New England Patriots – another point of contention in the interview – and UNC looking to finally become more than just a basketball school.
Then, instead of arriving with a spaceship with course set for the College Football Playoff, Belichick brought the circus to town, and with growing concerns about the 24-year-old Hudson’s unofficial involvement in the program, North Carolina may already be having buyer's remorse.
The Bill Belichick that arrived in Chapel Hill can’t be the one UNC thought it hired
His entire career in the NFL, Belichick has been a curmudgeon with a particular disdain for the media, and a unique ability to keep his players in line and doing their jobs. Now, judging from his social media posts with Hudson and public interview promoting his book, The Art of Winning, Belichick is doing anything but.
He and general manager Mike Lombardi’s Year 1 transfer portal haul is largely underwhelming, primarily constructed of other Power Four backups who will be given the chance to fill a starting role in Chapel Hill, and all the chaos off the field presents the program as one top recruits wouldn’t took with a 10-foot pole.
Exposure was always part of the plan at North Carolina, but not like this, and fairly or not, Hudson is being blamed for UNC’s deal with NFL Films to produce a Hard Knocks docuseries about the program and its famous head coach this spring, ultimately falling through. The deal would have netted the program at least $200,000 in facilities fees and much-needed 'positive' exposure that it could sell to high school recruits and transfers.
UNC needed to shake things up after another frustrating season of mediocrity under Mack Brown, and athletic director Bubba Cunningham took a big swing to give his football program some life, but so far through his first offseason, it looks like a swing and a miss.
Throughout his entire career, Belichick has always had a knack for cutting through the noise surrounding his football team and winning games, but this is the first time in his career that he's been the biggest source of the noise.