Pablo Torre addresses impact of Bill Belichick's buyout drop amid Jordon Hudson drama

Amid off-field drama surrounding Bill Belichick and his significant other, Jordon Hudson, there have been rumors stirring about his future with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Those rumors have only been exacerbated by the drop in his buyout.

When Belichick’s contract details had been revealed, the buyout also caught plenty of people’s attention. That’s because it, uniquely, saw the buyout drop from $10 million to $1 million this summer. That’s prompted questions about his future. Now, as Pablo Torre explained on Pardon My Take, he believes that the buyout could once again rear its head.

“June 1st is the date that I think is the first sort of crossroads, right?” Torre said. “And so Belichick, as we speak here, off to the side, personal relationship, she’s not in any way associated with UNC football, de facto sort of confirming that the side of the power struggle that has said we need her to be in the background for PR reasons if nothing else, that side seems to be winning.”

Throughout the offseason, there has been drama surrounding the couple’s relationship. That’s included reports that she’s his de facto agent, and Belichick reportedly asked for her to be included on all emails. That culminated in an awkward interview on CBS Sunday Morning, where they refused to speak about the relationship.

Since then, there have been reports about North Carolina hiring outside PR help. At the ACC meetings in Amelia Island, Belichick brushed aside questions about Hudson, sharing that she doesn’t have anything to do with the Tar Heels program.

“So the June 1st date, which, by the way, it was weird before all of this. The buyout clause going from $10 million to ten times less than that. Why would that be? Well, presumably it was because Bill wanted an out clause for the NFL. Now, it seems like that was an out clause in case he wasn’t really in charge in the way that he demanded to be in charge. So, him publicly going along with this now,” Torre said. “And saying, listening to everyone in his life, seemingly, but Jordon Hudson, and saying she’s not involved. That means June 1st is less of, if we’re reading the tea leaves here, is less of a red button being pressed sort of like this is all going to fall apart immediately.”

The question for Torre then becomes how public the relationship remains this summer. If it remains a distraction, there’s not a large financial barrier to changing things. If things are all good on that front, then they’re all good.

“But looking ahead to the summer, you guys know how college football works, they’re getting out of town. It’s the summer. No one’s really around the building. Recruiting, sure, is still going on, but the whole question is, while everybody’s off minding their own devices… is anything else gonna happen that would demand some other bit of public crisis management? If the answer is no, then I think that Week 1, him being the coach there, totally makes sense,” Torre said.

“But just historically speaking, in a very short amount of time, really, this statement from Belichick at the ACC meetings in which he said off to the side, personal, not involved in UNC in any way is the first time he really said that. So, if that is the mode, I think this is a lot calmer, but it’s also the first time we’ve heard it, and I’ve seen a lot of the pendulum swinging towards a lot of people being panicked behind the scenes.”

As of now, Bill Belichick is getting ready to coach North Carolina in 2025. The season opens on September 1st against the TCU Horned Frogs.