The University of North Carolina hired arguably the greatest NFL coach ever, Bill Belichick, to lead its football program, and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum would much rather talk about the on-field ramifications than the coach’s personal life.
In an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Finebaum, 69, urged Belichick to keep his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, out of the news.
“That’s been the distracting story all offseason. The games will help take care of that, as long as she’s out of the way, and Bill Belichick does what he does best: coach,” he said on the Wednesday, June 4, episode.
UNC hired Belichick, 73, early in the offseason, but his relationship with Hudson, 24, has overshadowed the roster he’s building with the Tar Heels.
“I’m going to go where I shouldn’t go, but then again, we’re talking about Bill Belichick. He has fired coaches, gotten rid of great players, he separated from the greatest quarterback of all time — it’s time for Bill Belichick to fire his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson,” Finebaum continued. “Listen, I’m happy for them, but North Carolina hired him because he’s a great coach, not to be a distraction. He’s a major distraction right now in this game of football. I’m sorry.”
The noise around Belichick and Hudson reached a fever pitch in April when he appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to promote his book The Art of Winning: Lessons From My Life in Football. During the interview, journalist Tony Dokoupil asked how the two met, but Hudson stepped in to shut down the question.
“We’re not talking about this,” she said.
In a statement in May to Us Weekly from North Carolina Athletics, the department noted that Hudson manages Belichick’s “personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”
The statement came amid reports that Hudson was banned from UNC athletics facilities — something the university denied.
“The bottom line, it’s pretty simple to understand,” Finebaum concluded. “Belichick’s trying to help [Hudson], trying to get her jobs, and she doesn’t seem to be qualified to do anything but get in the way.”
Belichick himself asserted in a May 13 interview on SportsCenter that his relationship with Hudson is unrelated to his football program.
“It’s a personal relationship and she doesn’t have anything to do with UNC football,” he said. “I’m excited to be back in the coaches’ meetings and getting ready for June and then August when we get to training camp. June will be a big recruiting month for us, and then August, we’ll start getting ready for the season.”
