A key date in Bill Belichick’s coaching contract at North Carolina passed on June 1, which marks his sizable buyout with the Tar Heels dropping to just $1 million ahead of his first season in Chapel Hill. Belichick’s deal, worth $50 million over five years with the first three seasons guaranteed, included his preferred buyout term that was $10 million if the contract was terminated prior to June 1, 2025.
When details of Belichick’s contract were released, many opined that the former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion was leaving a door open for a return to the NFL this summer if an opportunity presented itself. However, that came before the offseason saga involving his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, and what has transpired since she leaked a UNC football email that went viral.
Belichick later explained Hudson was an overseer of sorts from a public relations standpoint since he needed extensive help when inundated with requests after taking the job.
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“One of the first things that came out when North Carolina sent me emails saying, ‘These people want to talk to you…’ I sent back an email, ‘Can you please copy Jordon on these requests?’ so she could at least filter through them because there was nobody,” Belichick said last month on “The Pivot” podcast with Ryan Clark. “We didn’t have a sports information guy. Because all emails are shared publicly, that was taken as Jordon’s running the sports information department.
“And that also led to a narrative, which is just totally — she’s not doing it. I mean, there was nobody to help me sort it out, so I was asking her to do it.”
Soon after Hudson’s email posting, former ESPN voice Pablo Torre reported on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that she was considered a liability for Belichick and the Tar Heels due to her involvement and was nixed from UNC’s football facility. The Tar Heels denied Torre’s report that Hudson was banned and her role was later clarified in a statement to CBS Sports.
Despite much of the focus being off the field ahead of Belichick’s first campaign with the Tar Heels, UNC fans are excited for what’s ahead. Despite a 25% increase in tickets, the university announced 20,000 season ticket packages have been sold, a stark rise from last season’s numbers. North Carolina currently has the sixth-best odds to win the ACC (+2200) in Belichick’s first season, according to Draftkings Sportsbook.
During ACC spring meets last month, Belichick was asked how he would determine success in Year 1 at the program.
“It’s not about where we are going to be X number of months or weeks from now,” Belichick said. “It’s trying to take advantage of every opportunity that comes along to make the most of it. … We’ll see where the process takes us. But I believe in the process. I believe what we’re doing, and we have a lot of people working really hard. We’ll just keep putting those together.
“This is a hard-working group. They really care. They are very responsive to what we’ve asked them to do. We’ve made a lot of improvement.”
The Tar Heels stabilized their quarterback situation after spring practice with the April signing of former South Alabama star Gio Lopez, one of the top available players at the position in the spring window. Landing Lopez continued a busy cycle for Belichick, who was aiming at plugging holes in his two deep ahead of the 2025 opener against TCU.
North Carolina’s 2025 signing class under Belichick ranks 29th nationally per 247Sports. The Tar Heels have a top-10 transfer haul and have taken 41 total transfers since Belichick’s arrival, the most in the ACC.
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