Bill Belichick has had quite the offseason since signing on to become head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels in December — largely thanks to the future Hall of Famer’s relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson that has created nonstop headlines.
Among those (mostly unflattering) headlines was a report by Pablo Torre that Hudson was banned from UNC football facilities.
Though UNC rebutted, saying she was welcomed — and Hudson ripped Torre in a since-deleted post — that tension between the sides made June 1 a date of interest more than it already was. Because that was the date a clause in Belichick’s UNC contract would shrink his $10 million buyout to $1 million. And that date has finally arrived.
If Belichick wants to leave North Carolina, that just became a lot easier.
This isn’t to say Belichick is definitely looking to go anywhere. It’d be foolish to pretend to know what the 73-year-old is thinking. But we do know it’s not above him to leave a situation before ever coaching a single game (just ask the New York Jets). And knowing how interested he seemed to be in returning to the NFL before that job market dried up, June 1 was a date people had circled before the issues with Hudson and UNC ever came up.