Bill Belichick better win at North Carolina.
If the former Patriots coach wins big and turns the Tar Heels into a playoff contender and ACC powerhouse, his regular appearances on the gossip pages won’t matter.
It won’t matter who he dated or who interrupted his interviews on Sunday morning softball shows. But if he struggles or doesn’t elevate Carolina, which was already good, to elite, the final chapter of Belichick’s incomparable coaching career is going to be defined by his girlfriend.
In a culture where influencer recognizability is intensely coveted, Jordon Hudson has become instantly famous while tarnishing Belichick’s carefully crafted persona.
Hudson’s appearance doesn’t matter and the relevance of her age has nothing to do with its comparison to Belichick’s. They’re both consenting adults and can date whoever they want.
But Hudson is not just his girlfriend. She is serving as some combination of his manager, publicist and chief of staff. That’s a complicated combination job that she‘s shown no indication that she‘s qualified for. At 24, she has limited life and professional experience to prepare her for it.
From everything that UNC has been forced to reveal via the Freedom of Information Act and Hudson herself has chosen to reveal via the Freedom to Not Know How to Act has displayed how overmatched she is.
She is making Belichick look bad. Their embarrassing performance on TV should be a wake-up call. The most prepared football coach of all time wasn’t ready for some really simple questions. A sophomore communications major, who got a C in Intro to Public Relations, should have been ready with funny or charming answers when the inevitable questions about their relationship came up.
Hudson’s LinkedIn profile listed her as the Chief Operating Officer of Belichick Productions and the founder and CEO of Trouble Cub Enterprises.
According to the Raleigh News and Observer, Trouble Cub is a “holding company for a complex portfolio of businesses across a wide range of industries including cosmetics, real estate, media production, merchandising, creative consultation, business strategy and investment.”
Before that, she worked as a social media brand ambassador and a henna artist. Neither her experience nor her philosophy degree from Bridgewater State provides much preparation for her current gig.
As a result, Hudson is saying things and posting things on social media — an institution Belichick used to love to hate — that make her look incompetent and him look both insincere and petty.
Whether it’s bad instincts or bad advice, they’re losing a fight they don’t have to be in.
In hindsight, one of the smartest things Belichick ever did during the height of his Patriots’ powers was saying as little as possible on controversial topics. At the time, it made him seem smart, strategic and cagey.
In hindsight, it kept him from being overmatched. The more the real Belichick gets exposed to the light, the more he looks whiny, petty and more than a little sad.
He‘s become the distraction he used to try to avoid.
Around the NFL, the owners of the six teams that changed coaches in the offseason have to feel relieved they didn’t hire Belichick. This all could have been their problem.
If Belichick and Hudson actually have each other’s best interests in mind, they should break up professionally. Hudson should focus her strength and confidence on a career that doesn’t put her in this impossible spot.
Whatever goodwill and charm Belichick built up as Media Bill last year is eroding in a hurry. If his NFL approach to college coaching doesn’t add to his legend, the sideshow is going to detract from it.
Ted Williams might be the greatest hitter of all time, but he‘s also the guy who was manipulated by his opportunistic son and now has his head cryogenically frozen.
Maybe Belichick doesn’t care. And maybe 20 years from now, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach will remember these as the happiest days of his life. If so, more power to him.
But before this, he‘s always cared about football history and right now, he‘s damaging his place in it.
