American football coach Bill Belichick has taken on the role of supportive boyfriend, cheering on his partner Jordon Hudson during her competitive cheerleading debut in North Carolina over the weekend.
Cheerleading Debut Draws Attention
The 73-year-old Tar Heels coach was captured in photographs watching intently as his 24-year-old girlfriend performed with Code Black, a competitive cheerleading team based at Cheer Extreme Raleigh. The images, shared on social media platform X, show Belichick wearing a grey hoodie while standing among other spectators as Hudson and her teammates took to the mat in their glamorous uniforms.
The appearance came just one day after Belichick's University of North Carolina team suffered their sixth defeat of the season against Wake Forest, a match that saw the coach accused of showing disrespect to rival coach Jake Dickert.
Return to Cheerleading and Family Dynamics
Hudson, a 2021 national champion in cheerleading, has recently returned to the sport after being photographed training with Bridgewater State University's team earlier this month. While Belichick played the doting boyfriend on Sunday, Hudson has regularly attended North Carolina games to support him throughout the season.
The relationship has created complex family dynamics, particularly with Belichick's daughter-in-law, Jennifer Schmitt. Earlier this month, Hudson narrowly avoided an awkward encounter with Schmitt during a game against Stanford, with both women appearing to maintain their distance throughout the evening.
Schmitt, who at 35 is eleven years older than Hudson, is married to Belichick's son Stephen, who serves as defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina alongside his father. The exact nature of the relationship between Schmitt and Hudson remains unclear, but tensions became publicly apparent following Hudson's controversial interruption during a CBS interview with Belichick back in April.
Interview Fallout and Public Scrutiny
The CBS interview sparked significant backlash when Hudson interrupted from off-camera to stop Belichick from answering a question about how they met. The broadcaster later revealed that while they only showed one interruption, Hudson had actually disrupted proceedings on multiple occasions.
Schmitt publicly criticised Hudson's behaviour in response to the incident, writing on Instagram: 'Publicists act in a professional manner and don’t ‘storm’ off set delaying an interview.' This comment stood out among the criticism, which included questions from Belichick's former New England Patriots players about whether Hudson was acting as his de-facto publicist.
Belichick defended Hudson's actions, insisting she was fulfilling her PR responsibilities and that he had only agreed to discuss his book promotion, not his personal life. However, the incident led to former player Ted Johnson questioning whether his old coach was 'of sound mind' to allow Hudson such influence.
Nearly seven months after the controversial interview, the distance between Hudson and Belichick's family members appears to remain, as evidenced by their careful separation during recent public appearances.
