University of North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick, 73, cannot escape the scrutiny of his relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson.
Belichick’s decision to date and essentially use Hudson as his manager, publicist, and advisor has become a point of contention among many sports fans and media figures.
Sportscaster Paul Finebaum, 69, is calling on the NFL coaching legend to separate his personal life from his professional life. Finebaum gave his take on Belichick and Hudson on ESPN’s “Get Up” show.
“I’m going to go where I shouldn’t go, but then again, we’re talking about Bill Belichick,” Finebaum began his diatribe, according to Sports Illustrated.
The former newspaper columnist resumed, “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.”
After leading the NFL’s New England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships between 2002 and 2019, Belichick took over head coaching duties at UNC in December 2024.
“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,” Finebaum stated.
Finebaum’s recommendation for Belichick to sack Hudson got co-signs on social media. An Instagram user commented, “Agreed!!!” A second Hudson critic speculated, “She’s robbing him blind.”
Another commenter advised, “She’s definitely controlling, considering that she’s involved in almost all of his business decisions. I don’t realize that Bill was so dependent. It’s almost as if he can’t take care of himself without her.” In contrast, one person wrote, “Or maybe everyone should mind their business and worry about their own relationship.”
Belichick has yet to call a play in an official game for the Tar Heels, but there have already been concerns about Hudson’s role in the management of the Atlantic Coast Conference program.
In March 2025, The Assembly reporter Matt Hartman exposed correspondence Belichick sent to UNC’s senior associate athletic director for external affairs and strategic communications, Robbi Pickeral Evans. Belichick had a special request involving Hudson.
“Robbi, thank you for the e-mail. I am including Jordon on this email so she can also keep up with our postings. Can you include her on anything you send to me? Thank you. BB,” Belichick wrote in an email.
In May, during an appearance on “The Pivot Podcast” with retired NFL players Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, Belichick explained why he wanted his girlfriend looped into his messages from the athletics department’s public relations official.
Clark directly asked Belichick if being tied to Hudson was becoming a distraction from the game of football being the focus. At one point, the three-time AP NFL Coach of the Year referenced Hartman’s email report.
“I stay focused on football,” Belichick told Clark. “Some of the other opportunities that come along, Jordon looks at those and can dig into them a little bit deeper. But what she does helps me spend my time on football, and that’s what’s important to me.”
The father of three then claimed that Hudson does not have any job responsibilities with the University of North Carolina. He did, however, corroborate the speculation around the former Bridgewater State University student setting up speaking engagements and interviews for Belchick.
On the UNC email controversy, he said, “I sent back an email, ‘Can you please copy Jordon on these requests?’ So she could at least filter through them because there was nobody. We didn’t have a sports information guy.”
“Because all emails are shared publicly, that was taken as Jordon’s running the sports information department. And that also led to a narrative… she’s not doing it. There was nobody to help me sort them out, so I was asking her to do that,” Belichick added.
Hudson exerted her authority as Belichick’s advocate during a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview. The televised sit-down with news anchor Tony Dokoupil went viral in April following an awkward moment.
When Dokoupil asked Belichick to provide more details about when he started seeing Hudson, the Miss Maine USA pageant contestant quickly shut down that line of questioning while sitting off-camera. The discussion was supposed to be centered around his “The Art of Winning” book.
That interruption ignited a firestorm of commentary fixated on Belichick and Hudson’s atypical relationship. Belichick’s daughter-in-law, Jennifer Belichick, reportedly suggested Hudson was unprofessional for her actions on set.
Apparently, Belichick initially met Hudson on an airplane flight from Massachusetts to Florida in February 2021 when Jordon was still enrolled at Bridgewater State. Their romantic entanglement became public in 2024.
Belichick dated Linda Holliday, the executive director of the Bill Belichick Foundation, from 2007 to 2023. Before Holliday, the winningest coach in NFL playoff history was married to Debby Clarke from 1977 to 2006. They have three adult children, including UNC defensive coordinator Steve Belichick.