Bill Belichick didn’t save his floundering brand during an interview with Michael Strahan on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday. But the UNC football coach turned in a stronger performance compared to his trainwreck interview with CBS News Sunday Morning. The 73-year-old may have unveiled his PR gameplan for addressing his personal and professional relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
I talked to a couple of high-level sports PR executives after the interview that aired Friday morning. They requested anonymity in case the six-time Super Bowl–winning coach returns to the NFL. Here are five smart changes that Chapel Bill made from a crisis PR standpoint during his 10-minute interview with Strahan:
#1) No Jordon Hudson: Belichick’s girlfriend and de facto personal manager/PR advisor was nowhere to be seen during the interview, a fact which Strahan noted to viewers. Instead, Belichick was flanked by Brandon Faber, a former PR executive for the NFL’s Bears and NHL’s Blackhawks. This was the smartest decision Belichick has made in a long while. According to numerous reports, the former cheerleader likes to inject herself into Belichick’s business, whether it’s declaring questions about how they met cute on an airplane off-limits to CBS, finagling a part for herself in his Dunkin’ Super Bowl commercial, or telling UNC how to announce the hiring of his son Steve Belichick. Belichick also asked Tar Heels administrators to CC the beauty queen in emails. Let’s face it, if Hudson was on the set, the ABC interview might have gone off the rails—quickly.
2) Picking Strahan for an interview: The NFL is one big fraternity. It was smart for Belichick to tap Strahan for an interview promoting his new book, The Art of Winning. There was no way Strahan and ABC would bow to Belichick and Hudson’s demands that they keep questions strictly about his book. But Strahan respectfully held those questions until the end. As co-members of the NFL fraternity, Belichick could be confident Strahan would treat him well. “Smart move going to Strahan because there’s familiarity there, they’re both in the same club,” noted one PR executive. “Strahan’s not going off the ranch; he’s not going to go rogue.”
3) Immediately using humor: The stone-faced coach is nobody’s idea of a comic. But Belichick deftly used humor at the start of the interview to lighten the atmosphere. “I appreciate you not wearing your [Super Bowl] rings,” was Belichick’s first comment to Strahan after his introduction. Bravo, Chapel Bill. By cracking a self-deprecating joke about his Super Bowl loss to Strahan’s Giants, “any sense of tension was gone,” noted another communications expert.
4) Back to TV Bill: In my first column about this self-inflicted PR disaster, I asked how Belichick lost all the TV skills he acquired during his year with the members of the press he once warred against. I don’t know if it was Faber, UNC colleague Mike Lombardi, or his Pats consigliere Berj Najarian who got in his ear. But the Belichick we saw in 2024 returned. He chuckled and chortled like an avuncular grandpa. He had some good war stories about his training methods with the Patriots. He recalled Strahan sacking Tom Brady—drawing a grateful, aw-shucks grin from the ex-Giants star. When Strahan asked Belichick about doing yoga with Hudson, the grim coach leaned back in his chair, eyes crinkling, and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.
5) Wore a Suit: Dress for success. Even if you’re a six-time Super Bowl–winning coach. Belichick looked good. He wore a crisp blue suit and tie. Gone was the ripped Navy sweatshirt that drew such mockery from Peter King.
The bottom line? Belichick did much better, but it wasn’t an A performance either. You could see the cloud come over his face when Strahan started asking how his “personal life” with Hudson had spilled over into his “professional life.” Belichick had his canned answer ready to go.
“She’s been terrific through the whole process. She’s been very helpful to me. She does the business things that don’t relate to North Carolina that come up in my life so I can concentrate on football, and that’s really what I want to do,” replied Belichick. “I acknowledged her in the book. She was very helpful on that with the tribute pages and also giving a perspective of the book from a business side. You know, sometimes I get a little football-technical and she did a good job of keeping me on balance there.”
To his credit, Strahan kept going, asking what Hudson “means” to him—and if he’s happy.
“Well, we have a good personal relationship. I’m not talking about personal relationships, Michael, you know that,” said Belichick with a laugh.
That’s not exactly a love sonnet for Hudson. On the other hand, The Hoodie has never been Shakespeare. His message to the media and fans seemed to be that Hudson is here to stay, so quit asking.
This looks like Belichick’s media strategy moving forward. Acknowledge his and Hudson’s relationship with short answers, maintain that she has nothing to do with the UNC program, and then cut off further questions about their personal life.
But the degree of difficulty for this maneuver may be greater than either Belichick or Hudson can handle. As crisis PR expert LeslieAnne Wade told me, Belichick can’t claim his relationship with Hudson is personal if she is, in fact, his business manager. As his manager, her influence can’t help but bleed into his UNC business. The best strategy for both of them may be to remain radio silent for six weeks until the news cycle passes, said a third PR expert. But that may not be possible since Belichick has a book to promote.
Then there’s the wild card of Hudson herself. What if she decides to seek the media spotlight with or without the permission of Belichick and his handlers? Over the last few weeks, she’s been passively-aggressively retweeting posts defending her role. Given her publicity-loving nature (she just finished second runner-up in the Miss Maine beauty pageant), it could only be a matter of time before we hear her side of the story. It’s easy to believe rumors that she’s saving it all up for her own reality show rather than giving it away free to shows like GMA.
Plus, who knows what the indefatigable Pablo Torre will uncover next in his reporting? Belichick can’t just put the UNC campus on lockdown the way he did with the Pats facility. It’s too big, too unwieldy. As Torre tweeted: “Just know that the full @pablofindsout investigation is even weirder — and worth your time.”
