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Bill Belichick’s fate will be decided on the field. We hope.
What has been billed in some circles as the “greatest hire in the history of college football” has gradually set off a social media spark that could be turning into a dumpster fire.
Belichick’s young girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, has been by the veteran coach’s side from the day they stepped on the UNC campus. At his historic-like introductory press conference, Hudson held welcome flowers she received.
Since then, it appears that Hudson’s role will be somewhere between the average college coach’s wife and a co-general manager to Mike Lombardi. And it makes you wonder what is being said in the hallways of UNC athletics and more recently South Building.
No statements have been released except one that Hudson will review some emails sent directly to Belichick. Hudson is definitely a social media influencer with thousands of followers on her platforms. But the way she has handled her influence has become national news.
Belichick and Hudson are consenting adults even with their four-decade age difference. As a duo, one of them may appear regularly in tattered sweatshirts while the other is dressed glamorously if not provocatively. But a mutual agreement on their roles is what has tongues wagging.
The Athletic reported this week that the once-agreed-upon Hard Knocks special on HBO/Max about Belichick and his first college team was scrapped just before taping started because Hudson wanted to be an “executive producer” of the series. HBO declined and decommitted.
Then the CBS Sunday Morning segment, taped at a Boston recording studio, was interrupted at least once by Hudson’s off-camera comments. The interview featured Belichick’s forthcoming book, which went off the rails several times before CBS stopped the taping with what it had.
Now, you only hear crickets from the UNC campus, which has always been a sure sign that chancellors and deans and trustees are hoping all the controversy slowly fades away before they have to say anything. But something between a Hall of Fame coach and his girlfriend of three years, well, there is nothing written in any university manual about that.
Have there been relationships between coaches and people they weren’t supposed to be involved with? Sure, you remember the Arkansas football coach who got caught joyriding on his motorcycle with a student trainer?
But that coach got fired, and Belichick is just starting a guaranteed $30 million contract that was not supposed to have more than the normal baggage. What does the chancellor, the athletic director and the trustees say when wealthy alumni who have their cell phone numbers continue calling?
If Belichick can patch together a lineup to play with TCU on Labor Day night, much of this will be forgotten. But if the Tar Heels don’t do so well under their “rookie” head coach, Belichick’s leash might be a lot shorter if his college experience starts looking like a failure for reasons that have little to do with football between the lines.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Art, on this we agree. To add the proverbial fuel to the fire, this has been a terrible week for the optics of UNC athletics. In addition to the Belichick/Hudson storyline, there’s the Theo Pinson/Raymond Felton podcast where they are feuding with Rashad McCants. Granted, Theo and Ray are defending their coach and university from the aloof McCants and some of his recent ‘accusations’, but former basketball alums publicly feuding is a bad look – especially for those not familiar with McCants’ history. Then there’s the Zayden High story that was finally made public yesterday afternoon. This, in my opinion, is the worst of them all. I am honestly surprised he was not dismissed from the university and basketball program permanently.
Thank goodness for the Diamond Heels.
You would be more accurate and truthful to have written five rather than “a four-decade age difference.” You soft-pedal a crisis that sits squarely in the seat of a chancellor with career experience in private equity rather than academics who is running the university like a hedge fund by taking risks and pursuing immediate dividends; overriding the athletic director and acquiescing to politicized board members who behave like geriatric frat boys in thinking, no matter the costs and loss of honor, UNC football can be like Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia or even Clemson. UNC has got along fine for 236 years being the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For over 40 years, when we hear the name “Jordan,” we think of Michael. Now when we hear it, we think of Hudson, as that’s all that’s in the media now. Just curious if Bill is making any progress elsewhere, say on the football field?
But he’s not to blame. As has been told to me for many decades, “It’s Carolina football.” It’s cursed and you would think that a Hall Of Famer like Mack Brown could have changed things. And now the most successful NFL coach in history is spending more time doing stupid interviews and bringing bad publicity to UNC than he is coaching. ONLY UNC could screw this up!
It’s disgusting! But if Bill lasts to September, he should win as our schedule is easy as floating down the Hudson River!
The next time Bill does an interview, he shouldn’t wear a Navy shirt. What was he thinking? He should wear an NCSU shirt and some Blue Devil horns and wear his underwear outside his pants. And wave some keys like Hokie fans. And sing “Rocky Top” while winking at the cameraman the entire time. If you’re going to do something stupid and embarrassing to yourself and the university you supposedly support (and who is paying you millions), do it up right!
It is not just the Ball-a-chick-Butch Davis round 2 that is upsetting me about the heritage of UNC. Today, a detailed investigation into Ralph Baric’s role in the Covid scandal was released, which implicates Baric and Fauci in the gain-of-function research conducted at UNC. (ZeroHedge)
The news about Baric is so disgusting to me. The UNC admin is trying to wait this scandal out, just like the scandal of the football program.
To Be rather than to seem? I think not.
The idea that UNC may leave the ACC for the Big Ten is part of the modern facade of UNC. A better idea for UNC is to reject the pro sports business model and return to its mission of benefitting the citizens of North Carolina.
I have given up on any affiliation with the sports program at UNC, but I still tune in to hear Chansky chant