North Carolina coach Bill Belichick discussed his new college team, what he has learned the most in his transition from the NFL, and yes, his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, during a sit-down interview with “Good Morning America” on Friday.
Appearing on the show to promote his new book, “The Art of Winning,” the six-time Super Bowl champion said he has learned “every day” since becoming North Carolina head coach last December — his first collegiate head coaching job.
“I’ve learned so much being back in the college environment whether it be recruiting, the college game, the rules, the hashmarks, some strategy and putting a team together,” Belichick said. “I learn every day.”
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He added he has not had to change his coaching style, saying his players are “so eager. They’re hungry. They have dreams. They want to be good. I want to help make them good, and I want to help make them good on a good team. They’ve been very enthusiastic, and we’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve got a long way to go, of course.”
Belichick was also asked about all the public attention that has been given to his relationship with Hudson, who was not on set for the interview. Last week, reports emerged that Hudson was banned from the UNC football facilities, which the school emphatically denied. UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham told ESPN earlier this week there was never a push to keep Hudson away from North Carolina.
“She’s been terrific through the whole process, and she’s been very helpful to me,” Belichick said. “She does the business things that don’t relate to North Carolina that come up in my life, so I can concentrate on football, and that’s really what I want to do. I acknowledged her in the book. She was very helpful on that with the tribute pages and also giving a perspective of the book from kind of a business side. Sometimes I get a little football technical, and she did a good job of keeping me on balance there.”
When asked what Hudson means to him, Belichick said, “We have a good personal relationship, and I’m not talking about personal relationships.”
As a follow-up, Belichick was asked whether he was happy. He gave a one-word answer: “Yeah.”
The relationship between the 73-year-old Belichick and the 24-year-old Hudson has drawn widespread attention. But her involvement in helping him with his outside business interests has also drawn scrutiny. She interrupted an interview Belichick did with CBS last month, forcing both the coach and the network to respond.
North Carolina recently hired veteran Chicago Bears public relations director Brandon Faber to help Belichick. He was with Belichick at the ACC spring meetings earlier this week in Amelia Island, Florida, and also accompanied him to New York for his interview with GMA.
