Because of the widely negative reaction to Bill Belichick’s tense and awkward interview on CBS Sunday Morning, he and Jordon Hudson, his girlfriend and managerial-type figure, have attempted to take back control of the narrative. The strategy so far: more open contempt. Let’s see how this goes for them.
On Wednesday afternoon, the North Carolina football coach released a statement through the school, claiming that CBS and interviewer Tony Dokoupil had breached some kind of agreement to keep the topics limited to Belichick’s new book:
I agreed to speak with CBS Sunday Morning to promote my new book, “The Art of Winning – Lessons from My Life in Football.” Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book.
Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book. After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion. She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.
The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. 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’s publicist might have agreed to his client’s request, but that doesn’t mean CBS was under the same obligation. The network released its own statement later in the afternoon: “When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview. 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.”
It’s funny that Belichick claims that his first encounter with Hudson isn’t a secret, because he’s right: TMZ reported last June that the two had met on a flight. Belichick, who was in a relationship with Linda Holliday at the time, autographed Hudson’s book and the two took a photo together. It’s been public knowledge for almost a year. All of that makes it weirder as to why Hudson jumped in when Dokoupil asked how they met. It’s not proprietary intel! If he had just answered the question, it probably wouldn’t have been interesting enough to make the segment. Now it’s news.
The day before Belichick’s statement, Hudson pulled a frankly baffling stunt where she posted on Instagram an email from the coach, dated April 10. In the message, he complained about the media’s reaction to his book, but also claimed that he expected it. The second slide has a thumbnail for a 36-minute video, although it’s unclear what it’s supposed to represent. The Taylor Swift song choice is appropriate, since the post comes off as strategic whining about a nebulous group of haters.
Perhaps the intended takeaway is that this football genius is also three steps ahead of the media. He already knows that these so-called journalists don’t want to talk about what it was like to coach Tom Brady, or the impact Steve Belichick had on his son. (That’s well-worn territory anyway: David Halberstam’s The Education of a Coach, published in 2005, is almost as old as Bill’s girlfriend.)
This isn’t Foxboro anymore. Belichick was free to treat the media with hostility when he was dominating the NFL. His curt responses were treated as a quirky affect. But now, Belichick is a septuagenarian working a job beneath him in the probably vain hope of getting back to the NFL; at the same time, he’s trying to sell his book. All of this is being overseen by a 24-year-old who thinks she’s Tree Paine. It makes for a rough watch. It’s fine, in the realm of football, if the coach is a dick while he’s winning at the highest levels. Without that, he’s just a dick.