During the first few months of his tenure at North Carolina, Bill Belichick needed extensive help from a public relations standpoint and tapped his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, for immediate assistance.
What transpired thereafter was a public firestorm of sorts. It began after Hudson posted a screenshot from a Belichick email in April after a CBS News Sunday Morning interview went viral following footage showing Hudson stepping in to coach the former Patriots coach due to various questions concerning their relationship.
In March, Matt Hartman of The Assembly reported that, per a FOIA request, Belichick asked the UNC staff to copy Hudson on emails sent to his inbox. Belichick confirmed his request this month and explained the need for Hudson to oversee his inbox.
“One of the first things that came out when North Carolina sent me emails saying, ‘These people want to talk to you…’ I sent back an email, ‘Can you please copy Jordon on these requests?’ so she could at least filter through them because there was nobody,” Belichick said on “The Pivot” podcast with Ryan Clark. “We didn’t have a sports information guy. Because all emails are shared publicly, that was taken as Jordon’s running the sports information department. And that also led to a narrative, which is just totally — she’s not doing it.
“I mean, there was nobody to help me sort it out, so I was asking her to do it.”
Tracking Bill Belichick through Amelia Island: With Jordon Hudson offstage, UNC coach refocuses on football
Richard Johnson
Former Sports Illustrated and ESPN insider Pablo Torre previously reported on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that Hudson was becoming an increasing liability for Belichick and the Tar Heels due to her involvement and was nixed from UNC’s football facility.
The Tar Heels quickly denied Torre’s report that Hudson was banned and her role was clarified in a statement to CBS Sports. Later, Belichick further explained his girlfriend’s role on national TV.
“She does the business things that don’t relate to North Carolina that come up in my life, so I can concentrate (on) football,” Belichick told Michael Strahan recently on Good Morning America.
With a refocus of sorts now on football, Belichick comes out of ACC spring meetings with a transfer-laden roster and a few months to iron out a rough two-deep ahead of fall practice where starting roles will ultimately be decided before the opener against TCU.
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