As the controversy around Bill Belichick’s relationship with Jordon Hudson continues to swirl, a new voice has joined the growing chorus of skepticism surrounding his future at North Carolina — and it’s someone who’s been closely tracking every twist in the story.
Pablo Torre, who has led the charge in reporting on the Belichick-Hudson saga, recently claimed Hudson was no longer allowed in UNC’s football facility or on the field — a development that pointed to rising tensions behind the scenes.
However, that report was later publicly refuted by Tar Heel Illustrated, with a source telling the outlet, “Of course she’s not banned from the facility,” and adding that while Hudson handles Belichick’s personal branding, “she is not a university employee.”
Still, the damage may already be done — not just in public perception, but in Belichick’s actual grip on the program. On The Domonique Foxworth Show, Torre raised a new and far more dramatic possibility: that Belichick may never even coach his first game for the Tar Heels, which is currently scheduled for Week 1 against TCU.
“I think there’s a chance, an absolutely real chance that he doesn’t [make it to Week 1 with North Carolina],” Torre said. “And the reason I say that is because even before the Jordon Hudson thing became as public, even before it went from messy backstage to now, obviously messy everywhere, the date that matters the most is June 1st.”
That’s when Belichick’s buyout drops from $10 million to $1 million — a clause that now looms large as the off-field drama escalates.
“The question everybody is asking is, are things so dysfunctional behind the scenes when it comes to the power struggle, when it comes to what they are telling Bill to do: don’t have Jordon around anymore. Stop behaving in the way that you have,” Torre said. “Basically telling him for the first time, really, that you’re an employee and not the boss of this building in the way that he may have been assuming he would be, then there is the ability for him to get out of it.”
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As the pressure intensifies from both inside and outside the university — including Belichick’s own family — Torre wonders aloud whether this situation can last.
“Is this something that’s sustainable? Is that fireable? What does he have to do to get fired?” Torre asked. “These are all active questions.”
With June 1 approaching and the headlines still mounting, North Carolina’s season opener against TCU might not just be the start of a new era — it could be the start of an entirely different conversation.
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