UPDATE: UNC released a statement saying Hudson is welcome at their football facilities. That, of course, makes this whole thing worse. They’re even more scared of her than we thought.
FURTHER UPDATE: Torre responded to the statement, saying: “We broke the news of an important meeting where UNC higher-ups told the football program that Jordon Hudson can’t be around the facility anymore. Many people around the team heard that message very clearly. You can decide who to trust, in terms of how the PR spin goes from here.” That, of course, makes this whole thing even worse. UNC is chaos.
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I’m as shocked as you are, but there is yet another development in the Jordon Hudson Series of Developing Situations and Developments®.
UNC has reportedly banned Jordon Hudson from UNC football facilities. Which provokes the question: If they could do this, why didn’t they do it sooner?
Pablo Torre had the report this morning, along with the not–really–news that Belichick’s family is concerned about what’s going on. Which, again, provokes the question: NOW????
That’s kind of the story with all of this. Was the CBS Sunday Morning interview bad? Yes. Was it bad enough to ignite this firestorm? No. The response is disproportionate to the offense. The CBS thing wasn’t surprising. Why was the CBS thing what it took to get this level of backlash?
Four categories of people, and guesswork on what happened with each:
People Close to Belichick Weren’t Going Public Unless They Had To
I’d guess and hope Belichick’s family was concerned the moment they learned Jordon Hudson existed. I’d guess and hope Belichick’s family was even more concerned the more they got to know Hudson. There was no benefit to them if the public learned about any of that. In very Belichick fashion, it seems like everything was kept in house as long as possible. (Also, good luck telling Bill Belichick you disagree with one of his choices.)
UNC Is Not a Serious Place Right Now
I don’t remember the exact dynamics behind UNC hiring Belichick, but my perception is that a group of boosters rammed it down beleaguered Bubba Cunningham’s throat. Another attempt at a quick fix for a school that’s always struggled to figure out football. Remember: UNC didn’t only hire Bill Belichick. UNC also hired Steve Belichick, and there’s no confirmation either way on whether he’s the head coach in waiting. Appalachian State and James Madison have had no problems this century hiring strong rising football coaches. UNC felt like its best hope was to hire a then 72-year-old man who had never coached college football. No slow builds. Only moonshots.
What UNC did is a lot like an NBA or NFL team trading all their draft picks for an aging star with injury risks. Then, the star showed up on a leash with a witch on the other end.
With all its chips in the Belichick pot, UNC didn’t have a lot of leverage. Like the Belichick family, they might have tried to handle things in house, doing things like telling their social media team not to listen to their coach’s girlfriend and asking their coach to get his girlfriend out of the middle of spring practice. Given how UNC’s operated the last couple decades (aside from Roy Williams, who deserves so much better than this cast of clowns), I kind of doubt they did a whole lot. The UNC pattern lately has been to cross fingers and pray for rain, then snap into dramatic action (hiring a basketball GM, suspending the board of trustees, effectively kicking Caleb Love off the basketball team) when the situation gets too close to a boiling point. Here, they let it boil over. Will banning Hudson make Belichick leave, further torpedoing the program? I don’t think so, but even if it does, that’s a risk they kind of have to take.
Journalism Is Full of Chickens
It’s not like eyebrows weren’t raised, and to its credit, the New York Times/Athletic did have the report pre-CBS Interview about Hudson sending instructions to UNC’s social media people. But for ten months—the time between the first report on Belichick’s relationship and the CBS debacle—we didn’t get a whole lot from reporters. Why did it take so long to notice Hudson buying nine million dollars of real estate? Because nobody looked.
I don’t know if this happens in all corners of media, but in sports media there’s a tendency to wait until public opinion is firmly against someone before digging into them or poking holes in their narrative. Once the tide shifts, there’s a swarm, but sports journalists are hesitant to go against the grain. Again, all of this is guesswork, but the fact we’re seeing so much Hudson coverage out of nowhere probably came about like this:
- A few Boston and NFL journalists realized Bill Belichick was dating a woman in her early 20’s. Details weren’t clear, and it wasn’t that unusual for a rich guy in his 70’s, so they let it lie.
- When People reported on the relationship in June of last year, it was easy to treat it as a brief, funny story. Nobody really imagined it would be what it’s turned out to be. Honest mistake.
- Either people who know Belichick (and Hudson) kept things remarkably silent, or rumblings started reaching Boston and NFL reporters about Hudson being and doing what we now know Hudson is and does. Nobody wanted to look like they were out to get a young woman, so again, they let it lie.
- Belichick and Hudson showed up at UNC, and red flags went up everywhere, but UNC reporters (and hot takers—bloggers/radio/etc.) were both scared of losing access and stuck drinking the kool-aid because it was in their best professional interests to hype the hire to their audience. UNC fans wanted Belichick to be a home run. Why be the voice of reason in Chapel Hill?
- Hudson made some public missteps, and the combination of a vacuum (not a ton going on in sports right now) and a huge amount of kindling (nine million dollars of real estate, for example) created an explosion. There was and is no shortage of appetite for Belichick/Hudson coverage, so both reporters and hot takers swarmed, and they keep swarming. Everyone’s running to catch up.
I’m not trying to criticize anybody for this. It’s a bad facet of sports media, but this isn’t all that damaging of an example of it popping up. It’s not like The Barking Crow was all over this. I do think, though, that there are reporters out there who heard “Jordon Hudson is nuts” for months and months and sat on it. Probably the same ones who heard “Bill Belichick is dating someone fifty years younger than him” and waited for the People report, which came after the couple started going out in public.
Dunkin’ Saw an Opportunity
This one’s funny, and I’m kicking myself for not noticing it earlier, but that report last weekend about Hudson forcing herself into the Dunkin’ Super Bowl commercial was a great way for Dunkin’ to get free eyeballs on their Super Bowl commercial two and a half months after it first aired. Well done, coffee brand.
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Anyway, the thing I personally love most about UNC banning Jordon Hudson, and potentially having done it this week, is that tomorrow and Sunday, Hudson’s competing in the Miss Maine USA pageant. Maybe this isn’t exactly what happened, but it really looks like UNC waited to revoke Hudson’s access until she finally had to focus on some real work. That’s what you do when you’re scared of someone.
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