She’s coaching the coach. Photo: CBS Sunday Morning/Youtube
On April 29, “Page Six” published photos of Bill Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, wearing a ginormous ring at an American Museum of Natural History luncheon. The potential engagement ring is yet-another development in the media firestorm that surrounds the couple following an awkward interview with CBS Mornings. Hudson, who at 24, is nearly 50 years younger than the former NFL coach, however, isn’t experiencing the internet’s typical “age gap” discourse. Nobody is trying to save her — everyone’s actually a little afraid of her. Opinions are currently vacillating between “She is a succubus” to “Go evil girlboss go.” One TikToker, @geniusgirlalert, suggests that Belichick’s “scary girlfriend” is instilling some healthy fear in “sportsy guys.”
With her new jewelry, “twin flames,” but especially Hudson, are sending a message: She’s here for keeps. Here’s what to know about the most talked-about girlfriend (or fiancée) in sports right now, with added color commentary by Sports Bros of Vulture (who, yes, do exist).
Let’s start with the already famous Bill Belichick.
Bill Belichick is best known as the former coach of the New England Patriots from 2000 to 2023, during which time the team won six Super Bowls. “He won a ton of Super Bowls, arguably responsible for creating Tom Brady,” Vulture critic Nicholas Quah explains. “Also known for his sartorial aesthetic: favors sloppy-looking, hole-ridden shirts or cut-off sweats.” But what readers may not know is that he no longer coaches for that team. “He got let go from the Pats after the 2023 season, when they kind of fell apart,” Vulture writer and Chiefs fan Justin Curto says. “He didn’t coach in ’24, he was a talking head on TV and wrote a book.” In January, Belichick accepted a coaching job at the University of North Carolina. “It’s probably important to note that Belichick wanted an NFL head-coaching job after the Patriots but basically no team really wanted him,” senior editor Ray Rahman adds.
How did Belichick meet Hudson?
The two reportedly met cute on a plane ride from Miami to Boston in 2021 — she was studying a textbook titled Deductive Reasoning, and he asked her about it, per TMZ. He autographed the book, saying “Thanks for giving me a course on logic! Safe travels!” and the two apparently exchanged numbers from that. Since then, her stature has grown exponentially in the football world. “Jordon is proving to be an exceptional Media Character,” Quah says. “She seems quite invested in controlling public narratives. She will probably be a billionaire someday, or the White House press secretary.” Reasonable prediction! Curto thinks she should be a “General manager or vice president of a team,” because the “GM/VP has more power than the coach.” A quick dive on her Instagram reveals that she is a former pageant contestant from Maine. Otherwise, she’s pretty mysterious.
On IG, Hudson posts photos of herself and Belichick that Quah describes as “very good.” This includes one where he is a fisherman and she is dressed as a mermaid caught on his line. Perhaps a nod to her family’s fisherman past? She’s also posted videos of herself doing #Billates — balancing in the air on splayed-out Belichick’s arms and feet — a process she calls “#Billates.” Senior writer Nate Jones thinks the inherent idea of her is funny. “Belichick has an image as a no-nonsense grump who hates fun, so it’s incredibly funny that he now has a 20-something, Gen-Z, Instagram-girlie girlfriend.”
What happened in the interview?
This whole kerfuffle is centered around an April 27 CBS Sunday Mornings interview that was intended to promote Belichick’s new book. In the interview, conducted by CBS’s Tony Dokoupil, Belichick wears his trademark ratty sweat shirt, and he does a pretty good job making it awkward on his own — avoiding questions about former Patriots owner Robert Kraft, etc. But then, at about six minutes in, CBS asks about how Belichick met Hudson, and she steps in. “We’re not talking about this,” she says from the corner. “No.”
“It was supposed to be an easy-ish interview; he was there to promote his book,” Quah explains. “But when the focus turned toward the couple — specifically, on how they met — she shut the line of questioning down, producing a deliriously awkward moment. She clearly has a ton of power in whatever dynamic they have, maybe in whatever room she enters. It was deeply entertaining.”
Has she done anything else?
Yep! As Jones points out, there have been revelations, previous to the interview, about how she’s involved in other parts of his life, including, “the micro-managing emails she sends to staff at the university he coaches at.” The Athletic got the emails on April 15 through an open request — since UNC is a public university — and she is definitely involved in the team, sharing opinions about how the team should cover the announcement of Belichick’s son being hired, for example. “Is there anyone monitoring the UNC Football page for slanderous commentary and subsequently deleting it / blocking users that are harassing BB in the comments?” Hudson sent on February 13.
Then, on April 30, The Athletic additionally reported that Hudson was instrumental in preventing the TV series Hard Knocks from doing a planned edition on Belichick’s first season with UNC.
Please just explain this in pop terms.
Curto is here to help, by explaining the whole story in pop-music terminology. “Take a pop star like Beyoncé, who’s really invested and involved in every aspect of her career,” he says. “Even though she works with so many other people, everyone knows she’s in control and there’s no real right hand person who comes close, and she can be kind of private how she runs things. It largely works for her. This is like if Beyoncé decided to make an album with Jack Antonoff producing it, and she started LETTING Antonoff take the reins on a lot of it. Now she’s running decisions through Antonoff and he’s in interviews with her and she’s going out with him and his friends. Beyoncé fans would def be skeptical of Antonoff, but from the outside it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, he broke through her somehow.’”
Who Is She: The Bill Belichick Girlfriend Story
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