For all of the attention that Bill Belichick’s relationship with his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, has received, it somehow feels under-covered.
After all, the predominant storyline emerging from the eight-time Super Bowl champion head coach’s first few months at North Carolina is that his 24-year-old girlfriend appears to have significant influence within the program. But while it’s been unclear to this point how involved Hudson has been with the Tar Heels and in what capacity, thanks to a report from The Athletic‘s Matt Baker, we now have new details regarding her role.
One month after The Assembly‘s Matt Hartman first reported that the 72-year-old head coach had requested that his girlfriend be copied on emails from staffers, Baker obtained some of the correspondences in question.
One particular exchange shows Jordon Hudson telling UNC’s media relations department how to handle announcing the hiring of Bill’s son, Steve Belichick, as the Tar Heels’ defensive coordinator to avoid the appearance of nepotism.
“Though Steve Belichick is in fact Bill’s son, he should be depicted and represented as his own established, credible entity as opposed to an extension of Bill,” Hudson wrote on Dec. 22, per the report. “It can be easily misinterpreted that Steve is simply benefitting from nepotism but that is not the case. Steve was fortunate to have learned defensive football strategy from the ‘greatest defensive mind’ of all time. He has earned his position due to his performance and output.”
Hudson later added: “It is really worth emphasizing the point that Steve has the experience of being a COLLEGE defensive coordinator and will bring a plethora of knowledge to the coaching staff… I believe being strategic about the depiction of the Steve (sic) will prevent controversy and show upmost (sic) respect towards Steve’s career, validate Bill’s decision as a HC to hire Steve.”
In another exchange on Feb. 13, Hudson asked a staffer if anybody is monitoring the Tar Heels’ social media accounts for “slanderous commentary and subsequently deleting it / blocking users that are harassing BB in the comments?” One day later, Belichick followed up by stating, “I cannot believe that UNC would support my being called a ‘predator.’” That elicited a reply from UNC senior associate athletic director for external affairs and strategic communications Robbi Pickeral Evans, who assured the couple that the social media accounts were being monitored appropriately and that the university doesn’t support such commentary.
According to Baker, Hudson’s involvement in other correspondences was minimal. However, the report notes that an email signature identifies Hudson as “the chief operating officer” of “Belichick Productions.”
While there don’t appear to be any business records for such a company, The Athletic did note that Belichick recently signed a document with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office consenting to an application for 14 phrases, including “Chapel Bill.” The company that filed the trademarks was TCE Rights Management, which was recently formed in Massachusetts and lists Hudson as its manager. Meanwhile, records show that Hudson is the manager for several media and merchandising companies seemingly related to her boyfriend.
Although Hudson’s role within the Tar Heels program remains undefined—she isn’t officially employed by the school, per records—her relationship with Belichick appears to have a professional aspect to it. Specifically regarding UNC, she seems to be advocating on her boyfriend’s behalf, especially regarding public relations and social media.
She also appears to be heavily involved in Belichick’s own media affairs, although it’s currently unclear how those entities will work in conjunction with his job in Chapel Hill. That also adds some new context to the viral video of her at a UNC practice from over the weekend, which Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio pointed out seems to show her handling Belichick’s lavalier microphone.
On the one hand, Bill Belichick would hardly be the first head coach to blend his personal and professional life. As the makeup of his coaching staff suggests, he’s seemingly most comfortable working with those he’s already close to.
On the other hand, this is the greatest coach in NFL history,, and the next chapter of his career appears to involve letting his 24-year-old girlfriend have at least some level of influence over a Power 5 college football team. Even as most of us have already become numb to the headlines, it’s a bit insane.