CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) – The University of North Carolina clarified a report from Friday morning concerning Jordon Hudson, the 24-year-old girlfriend of UNC football coach Bill Belichick.
CBS 17 reached out to UNC athletics about a report from sports writer and broadcaster Pablo Torre, who said that Hudson had been banned from all football facilities. However, the university denies the report, releasing the following statement:
“While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” the statement from UNC athletics read. “Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”
The “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast cited two unnamed sources at UNC that Hudson was no longer allowed on the Tar Heels’ field or football facility. Torre posted a message on social media saying he stands by the initial report, and they made dozens of public records requests to UNC that “were not satisfied.”
“UNC can now choose to describe or change its position on Jordon Hudson’s involvement however it wishes, following the publication of our episode,” Torre wrote. “And we stand by the specific reporting in our episode, which came from the highest levels of the football program.”
This comes weeks after Belichick made an appearance on “CBS News Sunday Morning” last month to promote his upcoming book on his coaching life. In the interview, Hudson objected to a question about how the two had met, while Tony Dokoupil referred to her during the segment as being a “constant presence” in the interview.
Days following the interview, Belichick released his own statement defending Hudson, saying she was “doing her job.”
“The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation which we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career,” Belichick said in his statement. “Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.”
Belichick also said he told his publicist with book publisher Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews would “agree to focus solely on the contents of the book.” But CBS News pushed back in its own statement on April 30.
“When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview,” the statement said. “There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.”
During his statement, Belichick said he shares “both a personal and professional relationship” with Hudson and that he expected the interview would focus solely on the book release instead of his personal life. He said Hudson had “stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion” in an effort to “ensure the interview stayed on track.”
During the CBS interview, Belichick shrugged off attention on his relationship with Hudson, saying: “Never been too worried about what everybody else thinks, just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what’s right.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.