Bill Belichick is displaying the totally normal behavior of a 73-year-old man.
The six-time Super Bowl champion head coach and current top whistle at the University of North Carolina has been making more headlines recently for his decisions away from the football field than on it. That’s mostly due to a, generously put, strange relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson. (As much as two individuals separated by half a century can even be called “girlfriend and boyfriend,” that is.)
Hudson’s influence over Belichick has been rather well-documented. She has gotten the notoriously internet-averse coach onto social media, where the couple has posted numerous decidedly un-Belichickian photo shoots, like one that featured the Tar Heels head coach dressed as a fisherman reeling in Hudson, a mermaid.
There’s also been multiple reports centered around Hudson’s influence over UNC’s football program, specifically regarding the team’s media relations strategy.
So it should come as no surprise that Hudson became a main character once again on Sunday when Belichick appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to discuss his new book. During the largely softball interview with Belichick, CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil posed a seemingly innocuous question that, for any normal couple, would yield a similarly innocuous answer.
“How did you guys meet?” Dokoupil asked.
Then, from off-camera, Hudson abruptly interrupted the interview and said, “We’re not talking about this.”
“No?” Dokoupil questioned.
“No,” a stone-faced Hudson replied.
Belichick said nothing.
It’s about as contentious as the interview got, but provided a really telling look into the dynamic between Belichick and Hudson. The latter is clearly intimately involved in Belichick’s portrayal in the media, enough where she feels comfortable interrupting an interview to avoid what could potentially be an embarrassing line of questioning for the former New England Patriots coach.
For what it’s worth, the previous party line about how the couple met was that Belichick sat next to her on a plane.
Consistent with previous reporting, Hudson comes off as part-PR specialist and part-girlfriend. It’s quite an (again, generously put) unusual turn for Belichick. Throughout his long NFL coaching career, no one would’ve taken Belichick for someone who would eventually become controlled by some quasi-influencer.
But here we are. It’s weird. It’s unsettling. But, like it or not, this is Bill Belichick in 2025.