By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick defended girlfriend Jordon Hudson for interjecting during a CBS interviewer’s questions about their relationship and said she was “simply doing her job.”
The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach and first-time college coach at UNC issued a statement through the school Wednesday, which followed an appearance on “CBS News Sunday Morning” to promote his upcoming book on his coaching life. In the interview, Hudson objected to a question about how the two had met while Tony Dokoupil referred to her during the segment as being a “constant presence” in the interview.
“The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation which we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career,” Belichick said in his statement. “Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.”
Belichick also said he told his publicist with book publisher Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews would “agree to focus solely on the contents of the book.” But CBS News pushed back in its own statement Wednesday.
“When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview,” the statement said. “There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.”
The awkward interview added to the attention and curiosity that has followed the 73-year-old Belichick, hired as the Tar Heels’ head coach in December after his ultra-successful run with the New England Patriots, and the 24-year-old Hudson, who has frequently posted glimpses into their relationship with social media photos. That has included her role in Belichick’s transition to college coaching, such as a March public records report by The Assembly about Belichick’s request for an athletic official at UNC to copy in Hudson on emails sent to him.
In his Wednesday statement, Belichick said he shares “both a personal and professional relationship” with Hudson and that he expected the interview would focus solely on the book release instead of his personal life. He said Hudson had “stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion” in an effort to “ensure the interview stayed on track.”
He also said the couple has “been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.”
During the CBS interview, Belichick shrugged off attention on his relationship with Hudson, saying: “Never been too worried about what everybody else thinks, just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what’s right.”
When Dokoupil asked how they met, Hudson — sitting at a nearby table — said flatly: “We’re not talking about this.”
In a statement Tuesday, InkWell Management — a literary agency working with Belichick on his upcoming book — said the interview “veered” into a discussion of Belichick’s personal life and resulted “in a raft of hostile social media posts about his personal life.”
“Bill has written an authoritative and entertaining book about success that should be judged by its contents, not by the clicks generated by the segment,” the agency said.