By Conor Ryan
April 29, 2025
Bill Belichick still has months to go before he coaches his first game as head coach of the University of North Carolina football team.
But amid the media firestorm following Belichick’s awkward interview on “CBS Sunday Morning,” former Patriots linebacker and three-time Super Bowl champion Ted Johnson is wondering if his former head coach is already wearing out his welcome at Chapel Hill.
“I say all that to say this: That I think the Carolina Tar Heels should consider firing Bill Belichick,” Johnson said during WEEI Afternoons on Tuesday. “They should consider letting him go at this point. It’s a lot of money, and they’re deep into their preparation for next year.
“But I look at Bill Belichick and I wonder if he’s fit to coach an NFL team, let alone fit to coach a college team, which, again, I put more onus on the character and personality of a college coach than I do a pro coach. So, I’m worried that Bill Belichick just isn’t fit to coach college kids, and UNC should consider cutting ties with Bill Belichick.”
Belichick and his girlfriend — 24-year-old Jordon Hudson — made the rounds on the internet this week as a result of Sunday’s interview, which featured an off-screen Hudson shutting down a question from interviewer Tony Dokoupil about how the couple first met.
According to TMZ, that was not the only time that Hudson interrupted CBS’s interview, with TMZ reporting that at one point Hudson walked out of the filming — delaying the interview for about half an hour.
“We’re told outside of that baffling moment that made the final edit, there were numerous other instances of Hudson butting in — even when the legendary coach was answering questions about football, she would stop and correct him,” TMZ noted.
The TMZ report — which added that no reps from Belichick’s publishing group or UNC were present at the taping — also signaled that the Tar Heels may not be pleased with the interview and Hudson’s growing influence.
“The whole ordeal also isn’t sitting well with Bill’s employers — we’re told folks at UNC are now concerned about Hudson’s influence on Belichick’s tenure as the head football coach in Chapel Hill … especially with her, essentially, taking on a role as his manager,” TMZ wrote. “As a source put it, there’s a “growing sense this could become a problem.”
The drama continued on Tuesday, as Hudson took to Instagram to share an email from Belichick that centered around a strategy for promoting his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football”.
Hudson teased in the Instagram post of a “full statement to be released later today” — but no statement has been announced as of Tuesday evening.
Fellow WEEI host Andy Hart pushed back against Johnson’s take — asking what Belichick has done to warrant flak from the UNC administration, especially with no results to glean from on the field.
But Johnson stressed that the optics of Sunday’s interview paint a concerning picture of Belichick and his standing as the leader of a football program.
“I just think, just what you’ve seen so far,” Johnson responded. “The behaviors with Jordon, that dynamic, her being on the football field, her kind of just, I think, embarrassing Bill. People want to go, ‘Well, she’s taking control of Bill.’ You think Bill doesn’t have any say in how these things go? Of course he does. He’s okay with what she’s doing. He’s okay with her. You don’t think he knows that that email was being posted on her Instagram? Of course he knows. He’s signing off on that.
“And so to me, those are bad decisions that make him and the university look really bad, and question whether or not he is of sound mind and should be running a football team at the University of North Carolina. I think it’s just something you have to really, really consider. Just question the decision-making from the head coach at this point for those reasons.”
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