If you thought Coach Belichick would stop being relevant after his retirement from the big leagues, you would be wrong. He has managed to keep eyeballs on him even as he tries to navigate the choppy waters of collegiate football. Is some of it thanks to his 24-year-old girlfriend? For sure.
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Jordon Hudson has made her presence known. Be it from the ginormous age gap between the two partners or from the influence she seems to be wielding in Coach Belichick’s life. She’s apparently had an increased presence at practices at Chapel Hill, with Coach Belichick even requesting UNC to cc her on all emails.
Most recently, the former college cheerleader stirred quite the buzz as she asserted her presence at a CBS interview. During Belichick’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview, Hudson punted a question from Tony Dokoupil about how the couple met as she firmly said, “We’re not talking about this.” Following this interview, reports emerged claiming that Hudson has been banned from UNC practice. Thankfully, Rob Gronkowski has no such problem with her presence.
When asked to give his opinion on the most recent batch of reports pertaining to Hudson’s ban from any and all team facilities, the former tight end jokingly tried to deflect by talking about his upcoming pickleball tournament instead.
“I can tell you this right now, Jordon and Coach Belichick are not banned from Pickleball with a Purpose this Sunday, I can tell you that. If she wants to, she can sign Bill right up. He’s 73-year-old now, and pickleball does not discriminate on age either, so everyone can play.”
However, UNC has since clarified that “while Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities.”
Rob has partnered with the Jimmy Fund and the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation to put on the second-annual ‘Pickleball for a Purpose’ tournament on May 28, which will support both adult and pediatric cancer care and research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
While his answer is certainly indicative of the improvements that he’s made in media training, the former Patriot did ultimately concede that the narrative surrounding his former coach and his latest girlfriend has gotten a bit too “silly.”
Too many distractions at Chapel Hill?
According to Gronkowski, the lack of “football talk” in Chapel Hill right now is a bit concerning, to say the least.
“In the back of your head, you’re just thinking to yourself, when you were on the Patriots, the whole goal was to eliminate all of the distractions that could possibly happen while you’re on the team. And don’t bring those distractions to the team and in the locker room. We’re just looking down at the program in North Carolina and it just feels like there’s just distractions 24/7 down there.”
But Gronk suggested that the behavior is incredibly uncharacteristic for Belichick. For all of the unwanted attention that his newfound relationship has garnered, however, he insisted that it wouldn’t be enough to drive Belichick away from the game of football as a whole.
However, that’s not to suggest that this couldn’t be his first and final year as a Tar Heel.
“Coach loves the game of football, he loves coaching the game of football, loves being around it. I can’t see him signing up, and just because there’s a speed bump in the way right now with what’s going on, I can’t see him quitting after that. I could see him possibly leaving after the first year, but I can see him putting in the first year in and seeing how it goes on the football field.”
Given the stoic and no-nonsense approach that Belichick was revered for during his NFL career, his recent actions have certainly surprised many, including Gronkowski. Then again, if there was ever a coach that was capable of drowning out the noise and producing results on the football field, it would be Bill Belichick.
Perhaps it’s best to let the upcoming results of the 2025 season speak for themselves.
