Bill Belichick’s debut as the North Carolina Tar Heels went far from how school authorities or he expected. The Tar Heels were blown out of the water by the TCU Horned Frogs 48-14 on Monday night at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill.
The performance can be highly dissected, as many things went wrong in how North Carolina played on that night. However, one analyst seems to think that it’s time to point fingers at the off-field distractions Belichick is having.
Nick Wright thinks it’s time to speak about Jordon Hudson’s role in coach Belichick’s life:
“How much of that has been weakened by this three-plus-year, at this point, relationship with ‘wannabe starlet’ Jordon Hudson? That’s fair, that’s not out of bounds. That isn’t ‘You’re bringing up the guy’s personal life’. Because they have made their relationship super public.” (4:12)
He went on to say that Belichick and the 24-year-old Hudson have gone to great lengths to publicize their relationship through appearances in the media and attempts to turn it into a business venture. Wright wonders how much that has taken Bill Belichick’s mind out of the essentials of coaching.
It’s fair to say that the amount of time the coach has spent dealing with the media on the issue over the last few months has been quite a departure from his long-standing practice of ignoring this kind of engagement.
Bill Belichick’s Reaction to Loss to TCU in Monday’s Season Opener
Bill Belichick went straight to the heart of the matter in the aftermath of the season opener: TCU totally outplayed North Carolina. He didn’t mince words when speaking to the press shortly after the game ended:
“They outplayed us, outcoached us, and they were just better than we were tonight,” Belichick said. “That’s all there was to it. They did a lot more things right than we did.”
While they were heavily outplayed throughout the entire game, the Tar Heels got a glimmer of hope in the second half of the game when backup quarterback Max Johnson took over for an injured Gio Lopez.
Under Johnson, the offense looked like a completely different unit, and they finally managed to get their second touchdown of the night in their first meaningful drive of the night since the first quarter.
“I thought we were prepared for the game,” UNC backup quarterback Max Johnson said in the game’s aftermath. “We prepared for a week and a half for TCU specifically, but we’ve been working on our fundamentals for a year now. We need to do a better job executing.”
This was Johnson’s first time on the field since breaking his right femur in the season opener against Minnesota in 2024. He was initially slated to be the team’s starter for last season, but instead spent the better part of 2024 and 2025 learning to walk again.
Max Johnson recorded 103 passing yards, with one touchdown pass and an 81.8% completion percentage.
Related:
Top 10 Bill Belichick Jokes As UNC HC Breaks Unwanted Personal Record In 48-14 Loss vs TCU
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