North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick drew headlines last month with an unusual request: The six–time Super Bowl-winning head coach wanted a Tar Heels administrator to copy his girlfriend on certain emails.
The Athletic obtained those emails Friday through an open records request. The 44 pages provide a glimpse at the role of his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, as Belichick steers a college program for the first time. The correspondence addresses the optics of the NFL legend hiring his son as defensive coordinator and concerns about social media attacks. Hudson does not have a contract or other employment agreement with the university, according to a public records request.
Before the Tar Heels announced they were hiring Belichick’s son Steve for the same job he held at the University of Washington, Hudson wrote to the school’s media team to “raise awareness regarding a sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious, frequently occurring detail within media releases and social media posts.”
“Though Steve Belichick is in fact Bill’s son, he should be depicted and represented as his own established, credible entity as opposed to an extension of Bill,” Hudson wrote on Dec. 22. “It can be easily misinterpreted that Steve is simply benefitting from nepotism but that is not the case. Steve was fortunate to have learned defensive football strategy from the ‘greatest defensive mind’ of all-time. He has earned his position due to his performance and output.”
Hudson said the school shouldn’t use images of Steve and Bill Belichick together to prevent “visual prompts” that could fuel accusations of nepotism. She also suggested that the Tar Heels avoid referring to Steve as “Bill’s son” and instead highlight his own accomplishments. He spent a dozen years with the Patriots and called their defense from 2020-23 before joining the Huskies.
“It is really worth emphasizing the point that Steve has the experience of being a COLLEGE defensive coordinator and will bring a plethora of knowledge to the coaching staff,” Hudson wrote. “I believe being strategic about the depiction of the Steve (sic) will prevent controversy and show upmost (sic) respect towards Steve’s career, validate Bill’s decision as a HC to hire Steve.”
Later that evening, the Tar Heels administrator in charge of marketing, athletic communications and creative services responded. Robbi Pickeral Evans — North Carolina’s senior associate athletic director for external affairs and strategic communications — wrote that the Tar Heels hadn’t yet posted anything about Steve Belichick’s hire, but they would “certainly promote him as his own entity” when they do. The emails do not reference Belichick’s youngest son, Brian, the Tar Heels’ newly hired defensive backs/safeties coach. He spent nine years with the Patriots.
That exchange came six days after Belichick asked Pickeral Evans to copy Hudson on emails. The request was made public by The Assembly, an outlet in North Carolina. Hudson’s background includes a year as a social media ambassador for the clothing company Rebel Athletic. The 24-year-old has more than 81,000 followers on Instagram.
North Carolina did not respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
UNC hired Belichick, 72, to great fanfare and a $10 million per year deal in December, with the program hosting a “Practice like a Pro” event last Saturday at Kenan Stadium amid the first spring under Belichick. The Tar Heels have vowed to run their program like “the 33rd team” in the NFL as they try to break through into the ACC’s top tier. North Carolina won six games in Mack Brown’s final season as coach and reached double-digit victories once this century. Since mid-March, Belichick has landed commitments from three of the top 300 players in the 2026 recruiting class.
Spring Practice ✔️ pic.twitter.com/CiTjyKOWMw
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) April 14, 2025
Most of the emails Hudson was copied on are mundane. General manager Michael Lombardi asked about compiling a reel of “great things” former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, former tight end Rob Gronkowski and others have said about Belichick that the Tar Heels could show recruits. UNC also discussed interview requests from “60 Minutes”, “Good Morning America” and Charles Barkley’s podcast.
“Sorry I will not be available to talk with Sir Charles,” Belichick wrote on Christmas Eve. “Let’s find another time!!”
Hudson’s involvement was minimal, with one exception also focused on social media.
“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 asked on Feb. 13.
On Valentine’s Day, Belichick followed up.
“I cannot believe that UNC would support my being called a ‘predator,’” he wrote.
Neither provided more details.
Evans responded that the Tar Heels hid or erased a comment about their personal life and would continue to block, ban or hide similar remarks. The school did not find a reference to Belichick as a predator, and Evans called it “incredibly inappropriate, and as you noted below, UNC would NEVER support.”
Hudson does appear to have a professional involvement with Belichick. An email signature identifies her as the chief operating officer of Belichick Productions. The Athletic could not find a registered business record of Belichick Productions.
On April 3, Belichick signed a document with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office consenting to an application for 14 phrases, including Chapel Bill, Chapel Bill (Bill’s Version), The Belestrator and The Belichick Way.
The company seeking the trademarks was TCE Rights Management, a recently formed Massachusetts company that lists Hudson as its manager. Massachusetts business records also show Hudson as the manager of Trouble Cub Enterprises LLC and other entities, including: a company involved with a “multi-platform media project” (Chapel Bill LLC); a production/merchandising group for “The All-Belichick Team” (All BB Team LLC); and a video podcast production firm (Coach Show LLC).
(Photo of North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
