The Bill Belichick era with North Carolina football continues to have an interesting start.
Three days after appearing on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ to promote his forthcoming book, the first-year Tar Heels coach released a statement on Wednesday to address the viral incident of the interview that involved his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
The eight-minute interview, which aired April 27, included a tense moment of Hudson turning down a question from reporter Tony Dokoupil on how she and the former New England Patriots coach met, which has since gone viral.
‘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 that conversation centered on the book,’ Belichick said in a statement. ‘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…
‘… 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 his interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.’
CBS News issued a statement of its own late Wednesday afternoon saying that when Belichick agreed to the interview, ‘it was for a wide-ranging interview.’
‘When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview. There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation,’ a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement.
‘This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.’
Belichick’s statement comes hours after The Athletic reported that Hudson played an ‘instrumental role’ in HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ backing out of covering North Carolina for the show.
The rumored deal between North Carolina and HBO fell through on March 4, one day after Jessica Boddy, the NFL’s vice president for commercial operations and business affairs, sent an email to Belichick and his representatives mentioning ‘the conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with.’
Since his hiring in Chapel Hill in December, the legendary NFL coach’s relationship with Hudson has been under a lot of scrutiny. The pair were roasted at the NFL Honors ceremony before Super Bowl 59 in February by host Snoop Dogg. Hudson was also seen orchestrating things on the field prior to the Tar Heels spring game, including mic’ing up Belichick.
The six-time Super Bowl champion coach is the oldest active coach in FBS college football at 73 years old. Belichick and North Carolina are set to open the season on Monday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Kenan Stadium against the Big 12’s TCU.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
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