Bill Belichick sets record straight on Jordon Hudson role at UNC

Attention around Jordon Hudson has taken focus off Bill Belichick's work with the North Carolina football team.

Bill Belichick repeats that Jordon Hudson has no role with the North Carolina football team. | Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jordon Hudson may be Bill Belichick’s “idea mill” and “creative muse,” but none of the ideas or creativity she inspires in the coach has anything to do with the football team.

That’s the message North Carolina’s first-year head coach once again reiterated in comments regarding his high-profile girlfriend.

“She doesn’t have any role in the UNC football program,” Belichick said of Hudson.

“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 and recovery, training, moving forward to the next day.”

But while Belichick has tried to put the focus on football, several reports that revealed Hudson’s role in managing the coach’s publicity have redirected that attention towards her and not in ways the school has wanted.

Some of those reports revealed that Hudson had tried to request people inside UNC be more aggressive about policing negative comments about Belichick.

Then another that seemed to show Hudson “demanded” to be named a producer on the prospective “Hard Knocks” program that would have followed the UNC football team in its preparations for the season.

That show was ultimately scrapped after producers were put off by Hudson’s demands, preventing Belichick’s team from getting some national exposure ahead of his first season.

Then came a very awkward interview Belichick had with CBS to promote his book in which Hudson intervened in the questioning to prevent the coach from discussing their relationship.

That mounting interest and criticism of Hudson’s influence over Belichick has taken attention away from the coach’s effort to reshape the football program in his image.

That’s why he wants to get that focus back on the team.

“From the coaching staff, to focus on, how do we help our team get better?” Belichick said. 

“That’s my job. That’s our staff’s job. To put a good plan in place so that if they do the work, they see improvement. That’s what our job is.”

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