UNC and its head coach Bill Belichick have faced a lot of backlash from fans, former players and analysts ever since the eight-time Super Bowl champ’s relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, started to make the headlines.
While many people criticize Belichick for dating someone much younger than him, others criticize him for letting his girlfriend get involved in football processes.
During the 2025 season, analyst Pablo Torre even did an exposé on Hudson and Belichick where the 24-year-old was seen interfering during the UNC Head coach’s interviews and shared that many UNC officials were fed up of her being present in the facility.
Most recently, a former UNC quarterback bluntly revealed that he won’t be attending any of the Tar Heels games in the 2026 season because of the things he has been hearing about the program.
Amid the backlash, UNC GM Mike Lombardi told Pat McAfee on Friday that he is unfazed by everything that’s going on.
“All during those stormy times, all during when the boat was getting capsized, when people were attacking us with fake rumors and fake stories all over — nobody’s corrected them yet, but that’s OK, we understand — our players hung together,” Lombardi said on the “Pat McAfee Show” Friday.
“We did not lose one single recruit to another team. Now, they tried. A lot of that, to me, was the dedication of our recruiting class, and that’s what I think gives all of everybody in this program the lift that we need.”
He continued:
“Look, let’s face it. If you’re not worth a darn, they’re not going to attack you. Some programs are not worth attacking. They’re going to attack us. We expect it. It’s all good. We’ve been in the arena before. We don’t listen to the noise. We focus on what we have to focus on and we move forward.”
“It was (loud), but I think, look, we probably have to understand that we were going to get attacked. I didn’t think it was going to be on an everyday basis, but it is what it is.”
Stephen A. Smith Demanded HoF Boycott After Bill Belichick’s First Ballot Snub
The Pro Football Hall of Fame surprised the football world when it announced Bill belichick was snubbed out from the First Ballot honor in January.
Many star players like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and others were shocked to see Belichick not being awarded the honor, despite being one of the most accomplished head coaches of all time.
Stephen A. Smith shared his reaction to the shocking news on First Take and said that the organization should be boycotted because of this.
“Nobody should show up. Nobody should want to go into that Hall of Fame if Bill Belichick ain’t in as a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Smith said.
Belichick needed 40 out of 50 votes to receive the first ballot Hall of Famer honor but did not reach the requirement.
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