There’s something uncomfortable going on with Jordon Hudson, Bill Belichick’s girlfriend.
Not what you might be thinking, however.
Hudson is the latest in a long line of significant others, parents, siblings, friends and hangers on who’ve had outsized roles and influence in the careers of sports figures. Yet the interest in her and her position now borders on the obsessive and, in too many cases, reeks of misogyny.
The 24-year-old has been cast as a gold digger and a temptress. One outlet described her as Belichick’s ‘lithe young girlfriend.’ Some have even suggested an intervention is needed, as if Belichick is a 98-year-old getting scammed out of his life savings rather than a fully functioning adult capable of making his own decisions — no matter how questionable the outside world finds them.
There is room to ask if Hudson is qualified to serve as Belichick’s point person and publicist. (Given she allowed him to show up for a national television interview in a ratty sweatshirt from a school that isn’t the one employing him, I’d say no!) It’s fair game to question whether North Carolina, which is paying the six-time Super Bowl champion coach $10 million a year, knew it was getting a package deal or understood the extent to which Hudson would be involved.
But all of that can be done without the salacious innuendo and sneering condescension that’s marked a lot of the discourse about Hudson.
“From what I’ve heard, Jordon is playing the ‘Berj role,’” former Patriot wide receiver Julian Edelman said on his “Dudes on Dudes” podcast, referring to Berj Najarian, Belichick’s chief of staff when he was with New England, “handling all the football ops, handling a lot of his social, a lot of his P.R.
‘When you look at this situation and you say, ‘Oh, this is his girlfriend jumping in,’ I think that’s unfair. I think she’s actually working with Coach Belichick in the professional world.’
Again, Hudson is not above criticism. From the outside, her heavy-handedness appears to be the result of someone getting a job that, at least right now, is too big and under too much scrutiny for her skills and experience. That’s hardly a first, however, in sports or any other industry.
It’s the tone of the criticism, specifically the not-so-thinly-veiled sexist tropes being used to convey it, that’s getting increasingly problematic.
Imagine a 24-year-old man in Hudson’s role, acting exactly as she is. There might be grumblings about his demeanor or complaints about his arrogance, but no one would ever suggest he was taking advantage of Belichick, use his physical appearance to take him down a peg or troll through his high school yearbook to find people to say nasty things about him. Anonymously, of course.
But because Hudson and Belichick are dating, and because she’s young and attractive, she must be a femme fatale who’s got Belichick under her spell. There can be one reason and one reason only that she’s doing what she’s doing, in the position she’s in, and it’s not because she can craft a great marketing plan.
It’s tiresome and it’s lazy.
It’s also misdirected.
Hudson has the power and influence she does because Belichick gave it to her. Wrongly or rightly, and for reasons only he knows, this is what he wants. If there’s blame to be had for the soap opera that’s created, Belichick deserves more than an equal share of it.
Especially since he, far better than Hudson, could have foreseen it coming.
Belichick has always been the subject of fascination. He is arguably the most successful coach in NFL history, winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and another two as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants. He also is notoriously surly and suspicious, loathe to give any insight into, well, anything.
Belichick had to know a relationship with someone nearly a half-century younger would be the subject of curiosity if not controversy, even if he hadn’t described her as his muse or made her his de facto chief of staff. And much as he tries to feign ignorance about his public image or act as if he’s above it all, Belichick knows exactly how this game is played.
Remember when his dog Nike became the star of the 2020 NFL draft? The dog didn’t engineer that viral moment, Belichick did.
Belichick and Hudson’s relationship is, to say the least, unconventional. Personally and professionally. The first part is nobody else’s business. The second part might be, but there are ways to debate that without painting Hudson as some villainous vixen.
Unless the point is to tear another woman down.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.