Timeline of Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson and UNC's Controversial 2025 Before Debut

For a number of reasons, few people will be happier than administrators from the University of North Carolina that the Tar Heels are about to kick off their 2025 season.

UNC hosts TCU on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET, which is Bill Belichick's debut as a college football head coach.

There's no question Belichick has brought a ton of attention to the program, which is what the school wanted when it made such a splashy hire. The problem, however, is that the headlines often centered around everything but football.

Here's a rough timeline of the major storylines surrounding Belichick, including his relationship with girlfriend Jordon Hudson.

Dec. 11, 2024: UNC Hires Belichick

North Carolina announced last December it brought Belichick aboard to replace Mack Brown as the head coach.

"We know that college athletics is changing, and those changes require new and innovative thinking," athletic director Bubba Cunningham said at the time. "Bill Belichick is a football legend, and hiring him to lead our program represents a new approach that will ensure Carolina football can evolve, compete and win — today and in the future. At Carolina, we believe in providing championship opportunities and the best experience possible for our student-athletes, and Coach Belichick shares that commitment. We are excited to welcome him to Chapel Hill."

Days before that news, Belichick offered insight into what his pitch to UNC administrators was. He said on The Pat McAfee Show he wanted to turn the Tar Heels into a finishing school for the NFL and that they "would be an NFL program at a college level."

During his introductory press conference, Belichick affirmed his long-term commitment to North Carolina and said he wasn't looking to return to the NFL coaching ranks.

March 3, 2025: UNC Announces Full Staff

North Carolina announced its full coaching staff in March.

Steve (defensive coordinator/linebackers) and Brian (defensive backs/safeties) followed their father to Chapel Hill. Quarterbacks coach Matt Lombardi is the son of Tar Heels football general manager Michael Lombardi as well.

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens also came aboard as the offensive coordinator.

March 13, 2025: Email from Belichick about Hudson Surfaces

The dynamic between Belichick and Hudson was a subject of fascination prior to him taking the UNC job. They posted photos together on social media and showed up on the red carpet for some major events.

The intrigue intensified when Matt Hartman of The Assembly shared an email from Belichick to Robbi Pickeral Evans, a senior official on the school's communications team. In the brief message, he asked Evans to begin copying Hudson on any correspondence:

April 15, 2025: The Athletic Report Clarifies Hudson's Status with UNC

In the wake of that, The Athletic's Matt Baker confirmed Hudson wasn't officially employed by UNC in any form. Still, that didn't stop her from offering her advice on how the school should present the hiring of Steve given his familial connection to Bill.

"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," she wrote in December (via Baker). "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."

April 27, 2025: Belichick Appears on 'CBS Sunday Morning'

To help promote his new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football, Belichick granted an interview to CBS Sunday Morning that aired on April 27. His relationship with Hudson quickly became the dominant story from the segment, though.

CBS reporter Tony Dokoupil described Hudson as a "constant presence during our interview," and she could be heard off-camera shooting down a question about how they met.

TMZ Sports reported Hudson also "stormed out of the room and delayed shooting for 30 minutes." The outlet added that people at North Carolina "are now concerned about Hudson's influence on Belichick's tenure as the head football coach in Chapel Hill."

Three days later, Belichick issued a statement saying the portion of the conversation that made it to air "presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative" about Hudson:

CBS News responded by saying it didn't misrepresent how Dokoupil would approach the interview.

May 9, 2025: Conflicting Reports about Hudson's Presence at UNC Facilities

Meadowlark Media's Pablo Torre reported in May on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast that Hudson was banned from North Carolina's football facility.

The school pushed back on that notion and said she's "welcome to the Carolina Football facilities."

"Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick's personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University," UNC said.

June 1, 2025: Belichick's Buyout Lowers to $1M

The structure of Belichick's contract fueled rumors that he may never coach a single down for North Carolina. Starting on June 1, his personal buyout declined from $10 million to a much more modest $1 million.