North Carolina says the girlfriend of football coach Bill Belichick is “welcome” at Tar Heels football facilities amid a report that 24-year-old Jordon Hudson had been banned from them.
“While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” the athletics department said in a statement Friday. “Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”
That statement followed a report by the video podcast from sportswriter and broadcaster Pablo Torre, focusing on the relationship between Hudson and the 73-year-old Belichick — a six-time Super Bowl winner in the NFL as head coach of the New England Patriots but now a first-time college coach at UNC. 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 in an episode focused on the couple’s relationship.
Friday’s exchange came more than a week after Belichick defended Hudson for interjecting during a CBS interviewer’s questions about their relationship and said she was “simply doing her job.” That awkward interview had only added to attention and curiosity following a couple with a nearly five-decade age gap, with Hudson frequently posting glimpses into their relationship with social-media photos.
That has included her role in Belichick’s transition to college coaching, such as a March public records report by The Assembly about Belichick’s request for an athletic official at UNC to copy in Hudson on emails early in his college transition after his December hiring.
In response to Torre’s podcast Friday, UNC said there had been “false reports” about Hudson’s role and released its statement to “correct the record.” Torre posted his own response on social media, standing by the report.
“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 said in the post.
“We requested comment and filed dozens of FOIA requests that were not satisfied. And we stand by the specific reporting in our episode, which came from the highest levels of the football program.”