Bill Belichick's New UNC Contract Buyout Clause Triggers amid Jordon Hudson Rumors

Happy Bill Belichick Lower Buyout Day to all of the college football fans who are observing the occasion.

Starting Sunday, the North Carolina head coach has a dramatically reduced buyout from the contract he signed with the school. Whereas his voluntary exit originally would've cost $10 million, that figure now stands at just $1 million.

The general thought was that Belichick's relatively meager buyout would pave the way for him to leave for an NFL team down the road. That's probably not going to happen this summer because we're too far into the offseason, but he has a straightforward exit path after 2025.

However, the attention that has been paid to Belichick's relationship with Jordon Hudson is leading people to wonder whether the 73-year-old will simply want to remove himself from the limelight.

Belichick and Hudson would've been a subject of some fascination if the coaching legend had remained out of work. They could've stayed out of public view for the most part, though.

Instead, this has become of the biggest offseason storylines in all of college football. Belichick's radical plan to turn UNC into the "33rd team" in the NFL is being sidelined for gossip about his love life.

Meadowlark Media's Pablo Torre is sharing in-depth investigations into videos of a shirtless Belichick leaving an Airbnb unit Hudson had rented. Reporters followed him to the Miss Maine pageant, where Hudson was competing.

The coach apparently even discussed Hudson with his players to reassure them of where his focus is. As former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman has said, this is the kind of distraction Belichick once loathed.

With the calendar turning over to June, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio noted that Belichick has more leverage with North Carolina since he has to pay $9 million less to break his contract.

"If he doesn't get want he wants, he can pay the money and leave," Florio wrote. "If they try to take something he has, he can pay the money and leave. If they persist in their position that his 24-year-old girlfriend/handler/publicist/idea mill/creative muse Jordon Hudson isn't allowed to work for the football program, he can pay the money and leave."

Of course, that presumes North Carolina's opinion on Belichick hasn't evolved at all between when he was hired and now. UNC administrators can't love how much much off-field drama has surrounded the football team.

If Belichick is unable to deliver results in Year 1, the whole experiment becomes even less appealing from the school's standpoint.

Athletic director Bubba Cunningham had to know the Pandora's box he was opening by allowing the June 1 buyout language to be included in Belichick's contract. And that was when all UNC had to worry about was interest from an NFL team.

In light of recent events, Cunningham might really be regretting the buyout change.