During a two-decade long tenure as the head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick made it a habit to ensure that his team remained unbothered by the outside noise. Even in the midst of scandals such as Spygate and Deflategate, the Patriots kept their focus squarely set on the pursuit of winning, and boy oh boy, they continued to win, and win, and win.
But once Tom Brady departed New England, the Patriots stopped winning. The Pats lost 38 games in Belichick’s final four seasons with the team, more than they had in the previous ten seasons combined. And slowly, the noise began creeping in.
Has Bill Belichick lost his fastball? Did Belichick need Tom Brady to win at the highest level? How much longer will Robert Kraft keep Bill around?
After a full year away from the NFL, Belichick stunned everyone in the football world as he accepted the head coach job at the University of North Carolina. In Chapel Hill, where basketball has always been king, there was supposed to be very little accompanying noise. Given Belichick’s lengthy CV and his curious decision to dive into the college game in his mid-seventies, there was always going to be some noise. But there wasn’t supposed to be this much.
For the most part, the noise is coming from the chatter regarding Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend Jordan Hudson, whose presence in the life of the greatest football coach ever has been covered from essentially every angle.
How did these two meet? Is this weird? What does Belichick mean when he sees she’s his muse? Is he really dressed like a fisherman? Is she going to be involved in the North Carolina football program?
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The answers to most of those question remain unanswered, but Belichick did provide a rather straightforward response to that final inquiry earlier this week in his first press conference in months.
“No, she doesn’t have any role in the UNC football program,” Belichick said with a chuckle, according to David Ubben of The Athletic. “But again, there’s been noise out there about a lot of different things. Our focus is day to day, getting better, stacking good days together.”
Even though the Tar Heels, who will enter the season unranked, are among the most intriguing teams in the country heading into the 2025 college football season, Belichick continues to insist that the noise hasn’t impacted his team.
“Is there noise out there? We’ve always dealt with that. Really, our job is to build a football team and help build the team and also build their individual careers,” Belichick said.
Even Belichick’s players, who have only been in the presence of their new head coach for a handful of months, are already out their echoing their coach’s words during their own media availability.
“Outside noise is a part of playing college football. That just comes with the territory. It doesn’t really have any effect on us or the day to day,” offensive lineman Christo Kelly said. “We’re focused on competing and getting better and stacking those days. Everything else is just noise. We’re worried about keeping the main thing the main thing.”