For the entirety of his stint in Foxborough, Bill Belichick avoided the media like the plague. Cameras were a rare commodity in the New England Patriots facility and an even rarer commodity in his face. But change, as they say, is the only constant. Over the years, the modernization and sheer footprint of the sport have forced Belichick to ease up a little. Get with the times. But after the latest ordeal, the proverbial GOAT finds himself in, he must be cursing the fateful moment he opted into softening his stance.

Getting with a Gen-Z girlfriend was bound to bring Gen-Z issues. Ever since Bill Belichick publicized his relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, he’s been doing more media than ever. It hasn’t been all bad, to be fair. The football sphere has been able to see a new side of Belichick off-field since this coincided with him bowing out of the NFL. Nobody bats a 1.000 when evolving their intrinsic personality, though, and certainly not a man in his 70s. Bill Belichick has just released an autobiography, titled “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.” In his bid to promote the book, he’s on a bit of a press tour. Uncharted territory for Belichick, really. And it shows. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. After how his interview with CBS has been received by the masses, Belichick sure will hope that cliche is true.

The now-infamous interview, or whatever part of it actually made the cut, sees Jordon Hudson proactively controlling the conversation and almost puppeteering Bill Belichick and his replies. Naturally, people didn’t take to her involvement too well. At the crux of the disdain towards Jordon is how she has imposed herself into Belichick’s professional life. The man himself doesn’t seem to mind it, but his fans certainly do.

That said, the interview really does paint Jordon in a bad light. Perhaps unfairly, even. So in the backwash of the hating spree towards her, and by extension Belichick for facilitating her actions, UNC’s athletic department has now intervened. Bill Belichick has released an official statement via the school to push back at CBS. UNC associating with this situation is quite stark in itself. After all, this was a personal affair of their head coach.

Bill Belichick’s statement alleges that CBS didn’t follow the mandate and line of questioning they had agreed to earlier. Instead of solely discussing the book and its contents, the interview began delving into his personal life. Which, in turn, made an off-camera Jordon Hudson get involved. CBS then, per Belichick, “presented selectively edited clips and stills” that showed Jordon a certain kind of way. Thus, inviting the wrath of the public. In the interview that was aired, Jordon becomes visibly frustrated and cuts the interviewer off after Belichick is asked about how the couple met. Now, through his statement, Belichick reiterated that they met on an airplane in 2021. Something the pair has discussed in the past.

If the intent of this official statement was to quell the discourse around the situation, it hasn’t really achieved that. Quite the contrary, actually. In the aftermath of it being released, the social media verse further piled onto Jordon Hudson’s misery. It’s been a prevalent belief, with evidence to support it, that Jordon controls Belichick’s social media. His IG, in particular. So you can imagine the reception to this statement, which aims at cleaning up Jordon’s perception. The masses reckon she’s the real orchestrator of the statement. Again, this could be a totally unfair theory. But it has fanned the flames of the hostility towards her. If comments on X are to go by, the statement has well and truly backfired.

Social media realm reacts to Bill Belichick’s statement defending Jordon Hudson

“It sounds like something she would write for him to put out. I never saw him put out a statement like this before when it was just him. I guess she has a fragile ego.” wrote on person, who thinks this was a mirage. Sure, Bill Belichick would assuredly have co-signed the statement. But you do wonder whether he got it off the ground. “a statement from jordon hudson:” wrote another along the same lines. “Holy cr–, sounds like she wrote that press release also.” read a third comment in what was a bit of a theme. But UNC themselves caught some flak, too.

As aforementioned, it’s strange that the school would even associate with this, let alone get directly involved. “Why would UNC want to own this mess? Where are the alumni?” read one person’s comment. “Sometimes it’s best to say nothing. This was dying down some today and now they just feed the wolves more to talk about it,” read another. There was the odd comment that supported Belichick as well. “I stopped believing anything associated with CBS News around 2015” was an instance of this.

Bill Belichick is yet to coach a game for the Tar Heels. Yet, his tenure seems to be spiraling- figure that. He’d seek to put this past him and look forward to actually being discussed from a football lens again. Sure hope the book’s doing well after the media frenzy surrounding it!