Report: UNC ‘Hard Knocks’ scuttled over involvement of Bill Belichick’s girlfriend

Plans for the cameras to roll at North Carolina for the first-ever college season of “Hard Knocks” were called off over worries about the involvement of coach Bill Belichick’s girlfriend.

That is according to The Athletic, which reported Wednesday that 24-year-old Jordon Hudson wanted to be heavily involved in the production.

Backed by documents, The Athletic said NFL Films was set to start taping March 1 on campus in Chapel Hill, N.C., to document Belichick’s first season with his team. However, two days later, North Carolina’s lawyers received an email from Jessica Boddy, the NFL’s vice president for commercial operations and business affairs that the project was off.

“The conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with,” Boddy wrote in the email, according to The Athletic. She also is an executive producer of “Hard Knocks.”

The university said it was not a decision by its staff to nix “Hard Knocks” and added it was more appropriate for the production company to comment. The NFL, which oversees the show, declined to comment, and Boddy and Hudson did not respond to messages left, per The Athletic.

Hudson and Belichick, 73, reportedly have been in a relationship since early 2023, People reported.

But it is the question of how they met that put Hudson squarely in the spotlight this week.

In an interview that aired Sunday on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Belichick discussed his new book and more. But when CBS’ Tony Dokoupil, who described Hudson as a “constant presence” during the interview, asked how the couple met, she balked.

“We’re not talking about this,” Hudson said.

Hudson apparently has moved right in as first lady of Tar Heels football. Reporting over the past few weeks said she is being copied on emails and other communications to Belichick from UNC staff, and she has appeared on the practice field. She lists herself on emails as chief operating officer of Belichick Productions, though The Athletic said it couldn’t find any registered business in that name.

The Athletic reported that Belichick himself wanted the “Hard Knocks” gig, and North Carolina stood to be paid $200,000 in fees for the five-part series to run on HBO.

The show was supposed to be announced during the NFL Scouting Combine.

Players who were coached by Belichick during his career as a six-time Super Bowl winner with the New England Patriots are taking sides in the saga.

Speaking on their “Dudes on Dudes” podcast, retired Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski defended Belichick and his partnership with Hudson.

“People are giving an unfair reality of what’s going on,” Edelman said, contending Hudson was serving as Belichick’s “representative” during the CBS interview and that she interrupted the conversation “just like any PR person would jump in when there’s an unnecessary question that probably [they] didn’t go over in the pre-production meeting.”

Retired linebacker Ted Johnson, who played for New England from 1995 to 2004, had a much different take when he spoke to Boston radio station WEEI on Tuesday. He said Hudson was a source of embarrassment to Belichick and suggested her presence had cost him a chance at an NFL coaching job after he and the Patriots split after the 2023 season.

“I hold college coaches to a higher standard than I do NFL coaches when it comes to morally, they are supposed to leaders of men, set a good example that kind of thing,” Johnson said, according to transcription of his comments by the New York Post. “I’m surprised UNC never called Atlanta on why they passed on hiring Bill Belichick. My feeling is that the Atlanta Falcons are kinda looking at the UNC and going, ‘You should have called us.’

“I say all that to say this: I think the … Tar Heels should consider firing Bill Belichick. They should consider letting him go at this point. It’s a lot of money and they’re deep into, obviously, their preparation for next year, but I look at Bill Belichick and I wonder if he’s fit to coach an NFL team, let alone fit to coach a college team which, again, I put more onus on the character and personality and just overall character, if you will, of a college coach than I do a pro coach. I’m worried that Bill Belichick just isn’t fit to coach college kids and UNC should consider cutting ties with Bill Belichick.”

In January, Belichick signed a five-year contract with North Carolina. Only the first three years are guaranteed with $10 million per year in salary and $3.5 million in bonuses possible.

–Field Level Media