On the heels of Bill Belichick's recent visit with CBS News that turned into a PR disaster, we suggested in a column on April 29 that his Hall-of-Fame career was in the process of being soiled.
We never said he was going to get fired from his new gig.
We never even said his girlfriend was going to get fired from hers.
What we wrote: "After a bizarre and alarming interview over the weekend, a new facet of Belichick's life - his 24-year-old girlfriend - is causing concern from his new employer.''
Our piece did not play well to some.
We were overreacting! What right did we have! Bill's career has been constructed on no-nonsense values, with no use for the media, with no coddling of superstars, wiith no bells and no whistles. ... a man so powerful he doesn't even need sleeves on his hoodies!
We were right.
Our critics were wrong.
And now Belichick - a legend in New England, of course, but also one with two Super Bowl rings from his defensive coordinator work in New York - is in a way admitting he was wrong, too.
The iconic coach who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots went back to college at North Carolina in a wild move to become a college coach. He did so at age 73, and brought along with him his 24-year-old girlfriend.
We said at the time that Tar Heels administrators had worried about her involvement not in Bill's personal life (his business) but in Bill's professional life (their business).
And we all saw the intrusiveness of Jordon Hudson when she attempted to "run'' the CBS interview and ran it right into the ground, an icky act that absolutely has hurt her boyfriend's reputation. ...
And maybe more.
There were other outlets that aligned themselves with our thinking.
FootballScoop opined, "The obvious follow-up to that: How could they not be concerned?''
The Athletic's veteran college writer Stewart Mandel characterized the latest wrinkle here as "cringe''-inducing?
And now comes Pablo Torre, the decorated journalist formerly of ESPN.
On Monday, And when asked if the situation in Chapel Hill has gotten contentious enough that Belichick might not make it to UNC’s season opener against TCU, the former ESPN reporter and personality didn’t rule it out.
“I think there’s a chance, an absolutely real chance that he doesn’t [make it to Week 1 with North Carolina],” Torre said as he appeared on The Domonique Foxworth Show. ... “The question everybody is asking is, are things so dysfunctional behind the scenes when it comes to the power struggle, when it comes to what they are telling Bill to do: don’t have Jordon around anymore. Stop behaving in the way that you have. Basically telling him for the first time, really, that you’re an employee and not the boss of this building in the way that he may have been assuming he would be.
“That’s before you even consider the fact that stuff is so crazy when it comes to how his family feels, how the people around the school feel, that there’s this larger, ‘hey, so coach met this woman when she was 19 years old on an airplane and now she’s kind of running his public image as his girlfriend,'” he said. “Is this something that’s sustainable? Is that fireable? What does he have to do to get fired? These are all active questions.”
Wait. "Fireable''?
Yes. That's what a reputable reporter is responsibly asking.
"Not make it to Week 1''? Really?
Yes. That's what a reputable reporter is responsibly suggesting.
Separated in age by almost 50 years, the couple met in 2023 and Hudson has grown into Belichick's de facto agent and apparently also his public relations strategist. She has demanded to be copied on his UNC emails and refers to herself as "Chief Operating Officer of Belichick Productions" on email signatures.
In the troubling interview with CBS Sunday Morning, she interrupted one of Belichick's answers, shut down a topic, and stormed off the set with him and delayed the session for 30 minutes.
During the sit-down interview with Tony Dokoupil to promote the May 6 release of his new book - The Art of Winning - Belichick referred to Hudson as his "creative muse."
She regularly posts photos of the couple on her Instagram, including one where Belichick was a fisherman to her mermaid and one where the coach is balancing her on his feet on the beach.
But when asked by Dokoupil how the couple met, Hudson - sitting off-camera and watching the proceedings on a monitor - abruptly interjected.
"We're not talking about this," she said. "No." ...
And now comes Belichick's mad scramble to fix all of this - and to reiterate, there'd be no reason to fix it if Bill and Jordon hadn't broken it.
He's hired a real PR person, not just a 24-year-old girlfriend, as he swears her role is changing to simple being his girlfriend.
He's issuing statements to make it clear that she's his romantic partner and nothing more. "It's off to the side,'' he said. (A dubious claim, but whatever.)
He's apparently listening to his bosses at UNC because ... yes ... anybody - even a legend - can get dismissed.
Heck ... didn't he essentially get dismissed in New England?
And he's finding a soft place to land on TV in his next visit, on ABC's "Good Morning America'' with the interviewer being Michael Strahan, who will do a fine job but is especially qualified because he's a Giants legend.
Bill Belichick didn't break any ethical codes or any laws. He simply allowed himself to look foolish. ... and yes, to tarnish his legacy.
Now he is going to use TV to return to his roots ...
And we bet his bosses at North Carolina hope it's more than just an act to sell some books.