Crisis PR experts warn reputations that take decades to build can be destroyed in seconds. That’s the stark challenge facing Bill Belichick.
Ever since 24-year-old Jordon Hudson crashed his interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, the legendary coach has found himself in the eye of a media storm. Right or wrong, the picture is coalescing of Belichick as a besotted old man meekly taking orders from a bossy girlfriend 49 years his junior.
Belichick can’t undo the brand damage from the cringey interview that was supposed to promote his new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football. Ex-players like Ted Johnson are already saying he may not be fit to coach at UNC. Comedy shows like Saturday Night Live are savagely roasting the couple’s age gap. But the six-time Super Bowl winner can try to mitigate the fallout on Bill Belichick Inc. I talked to three top crisis PR experts for their advice, and emerged from those conversations with seven ways Belichick can try to rebuild his fraying reputation—and legacy.
1. Stick to football: For decades, the former Patriots coach brusquely dismissed all non-football questions as distractions. His curt “We’re on to Cincinnati” answer was a perfect summation of his single-minded focus. Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary to George W. Bush and current media consultant, tells Front Office Sports the coach should follow his own advice.
“He blew it and now he’s stuck. If he had prepared for an obvious question with a halfway-decent answer, this would now be a non-issue,” says Fleischer, who’s consulted for the NFL, MLB, NBA, and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “All he can do now is say, ‘Ask me football questions. My private life is private.’ And hope for this to fade away.”
2. Cancel book tour interviews: The damage has been done. But the 73-year-old Belichick could make it worse by doing more national interviews for Simon & Schuster, warns Josh Culling, president of Dezenhall Resources. Unless Belichick is being interviewed by his own literary team, news organizations will ask about his beauty-pageant girlfriend, whether they like it or not. Especially since Belichick invited that scrutiny by describing the former cheerleader as his “idea mill and creative muse” in the book. Instead, Belichick should hit pause and return to what he does best.
“The No. 1 thing he can do is shut down the entire PR operation that’s been set up around [him]—and focus on coaching football,” says the crisis management consultant. “There’s no quick fix to things like this. Reputations can be lit on fire in an instant. But rebuilding them takes time. Generally, the first thing to do is stop doing harm. Stop digging.”
3. Realize his predicament: Belichick and Hudson are kidding themselves if they think this story will blow over, warns Mike Paul, branded as “The Reputation Doctor.” Instead, it’s become a “feeding frenzy” for virtually all media outlets, ranging from ESPN and Sports Illustrated to People, TMZ, and Page Six. Comedy shows like SNL and Netflix’s Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney are licking their chops because they have new stereotypes to lampoon.
“This is not just sports. This is sports, entertainment, and lifestyle news, plus social media, all combined. It’s a huge difference between somebody following the Patriots, for example,” says Paul. “We’ve already heard whispers he’s been advised by the university, ‘We’re concerned about this.’”
4. Call in the cavalry: As FOS wrote last week, one reason why Belichick finds himself in this quandary is that he no longer employs media guru Berj Najarian. For 25 years, the shadowy Pats chief of staff acted as Belichick’s right-hand man and fixer with the media. But when Pats owner Robert Kraft fired Belichick in January 2024, Najarian joined the staff of Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien. Since then, Belichick has tried to put Hudson into Najarian’s old role, according to former players like Julian Edelman. But she doesn’t yet have the experience or training to pull it off.
Belichick may be wising up to the idea that he needs outside help. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reports the coach is talking to Brandon Faber, former VP of communications for the NFL’s Bears and NHL’s Blackhawks.
“The potential assignment encompasses working directly for North Carolina and/or assisting Belichick with non-UNC matters. Like his book,” writes Florio. “It would be wise for Belichick to get someone to provide him with frank, candid advice on how to navigate the media. As it relates to his book tour, Belichick has badly blown it by assuming the media needs him more than he needs the media.”
5. Replace Hudson as his manager/publicist: Tom Cruise fired his sister Lee Anne DeVette as his publicist in 2005, and Belichick can do the same with Hudson, says Paul. If the beauty queen wants to focus on her reported $8 million luxury real estate empire in Boston, that’s fine. But she should not be involved in his interviews. She should not manage Belichick’s career. And she should not have input into the Tar Heels football program.
Says Paul: “Understanding healthy boundaries is the fix. … The less we know about your relationship, the better.”
6. Come up with better answers: One of Belichick and Hudson’s biggest mistakes was deeming the question of how they met off-limits to CBS, when their story of meeting on an airplane was already common knowledge. Just in case, Belichick should be media-trained to have some better answers up his sleeve about their May-December romance, says Paul. The more emotional, the better. “What’s more emotional than saying, ‘I’m in love with her.’ Next question.”
7. Win football games: The late, great John Madden used to say, “Winning is the great deodorant.” A football historian like Belichick should understand, according to Culling. “If I were Bill Belichick, I would be worried more about my personal reputation than book sales right now. The way to rehab his personal reputation is to win football games. If UNC wins 10 games this year, and they have a top-10 recruiting class, then all is well,” he says. “A lot of the anxiety and agitation that folks are feeling about Belichick is: Is he still a great football coach? Is he still a killer? I know if I’m UNC, that’s what I’m thinking about. They spent $10 million a year on this guy. They want a return on that.”
Of course, whatever media strategy Belichick pursues depends on Hudson. So far, she’s shown zero inclination to step back from her de facto roles as Belichick’s manager and publicist. She’s actively involving herself in other projects, including allegedly forcing her way into a Dunkin’ Super Bowl commercial with Belichick, Ben Affleck, and Casey Affleck.
After the CBS interview blew up, Hudson retweeted several fiery posts supporting her and Belichick’s handling of Tony Dokoupil on X/Twitter. “Bill looks like he wants to reach across and strangle the life out of the interviewer. I kinda wish he did,” said one message. Another read: “I see a woman who cares about her man and doesn’t want him to be screwed around by the media.”
Hudson likes being on front street. She will appear as a contestant in the Miss Maine USA contest from May 10–11. She’s actively hiring for her Trouble Cub Enterprises company. But Belichick should remember, it’s his brand that’s at risk, not hers, warns Paul.
“This is the risk of not having professionals do their job. This isn’t Tiddlywinks: His brand is worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of his lifetime. And he’s taking a risk with a 24-year-old who doesn’t have an expertise in branding, doesn’t have an expertise in being his PR person, and certainly doesn’t have an expertise in the pivot from pro football to college football, which is his brand right now,” he says. “This week, his brand is an out-of-touch man, love-sick over a 24-year-old. He needs to take back his brand and, with love, say: ‘To protect our relationship, the pros are taking over.’”
