Maybe Bill Belichick should have taken a job with a private university.
By becoming the head coach at North Carolina, Belichick accepted a position that would make all of his official communications public records. That’s how we got confirmation the powers-that-be in Chapel Hill were nervous about Belichick quickly bolting for pro ball. It’s also how everyone learned Belichick issued the instruction to copy his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, on emails sent to him.
Even though Hudson doesn’t work for the school or the program, her emails to and from school accounts are fair game. In response to a properly-submitted request, these public documents must be produced to the media.
Matt Baker of TheAthletic.com has obtained emails sent and received by Hudson. From his article regarding the contents of the emails, three things stand out.
First, her email signature identifies her as the chief operating officer of Belichick Productions. (Baker found no business registered in that name.) This title helps explain her role in, for example, negotiating with NFL Films over the on-until-it-wasn’t Hard Knocks project. And it sheds more light on what she was doing during the spring practice finale over the weekend.
Second, she (and Belichick) are very sensitive about criticism of Belichick on the UNC football page.
“Is there anyone monitoring the UNC Football page for slanderous commentary and subsequently deleting it/blocking users that are harassing BB in the comments?” she asked on February 13. The next day, Belichick wrote this: “I cannot believe that UNC would support my being called a ‘predator.’” (Looks like the Chapel Hill honeymoon ended in roughly two months.)
Third, she asked the school’s media team to display greater sensitivity to the inherent nepotism associated with Belichick’s decision to hire his own son, Steve, to work as the school’s defensive coordinator.
“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 December 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. . . .
“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. 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.”
It’s hard not to think Hudson was, in defending Steve against the perception/reality of nepotism, referring indirectly to her own rise in the program for which she doesn’t actually work. She’s only there because of her connection to Bill.
Really, that’s the best response to any claims of nepotism, wherever it happens. In plenty of industries (and especially sports), it’s either nepotism OR cronyism that opens doors. Most jobs in a place where the number of interested applicants far exceeds the number of positions go to people who have some sort of connection, to someone. A common educational background. An old friend. A good friend of a family member. However it goes, that’s how it works.
Managers are always looking for people they can trust. Family can be trusted. Friends can be trusted. The devil you know is always better than the devil you don’t.
In Steve Belichick’s case, his relationship to his father made him the primary candidate to be hired as the defensive coordinator. And Hudon’s relationship to Bill Belichick has positioned her to work there, without really working there.
That might fly at North Carolina (even if the school didn’t realize it would be getting a volunteer who would have significant influence when Bill was hired). It’s another very real factor that could complicate his return to the NFL, because it’s hard to imagine the payrolled employees of NFL teams taking orders from someone who doesn’t even work there.
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