UNC players: Belichick personal life no distraction

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If Bill Belichick's personal life has been the predominant topic of discussion outside North Carolina's locker room in recent months, Tar Heels players insist it hasn't unsettled the team at all.

Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, have made numerous headlines since the 73-year-old, six-time Super Bowl champion coach was hired at UNC in December, from Hudson interrupting a "CBS News Sunday Morning" interview with him to reports that Hudson had been barred from the Tar Heels' football facility by school leadership (which officials denied).

It's all just "noise," according to Belichick.

"Sometimes it's noisy and sometimes it isn't," Belichick told ESPN. "Sometimes with the Patriots it was noisy, too."

UNC receiver Jordan Shipp said none of that noise has disrupted the team, though.

Shipp said he's rarely seen Hudson around the team and believes any inferences that she's been overly involved in Belichick's work have been wildly exaggerated.

"Social media can promote some narrative, but that was not a distraction to us at all," Shipp said. "There was never a problem, like people saying she was running practice. We'd never really see her in the building. That was never a problem."

Shipp noted that last season, he spent significant time with the wife of former UNC coach Mack Brown, even eating breakfast with her nearly every day at the team's facility, so he saw no difference in his current coach having his significant other around the team.

Not that that's happened, Belichick quipped.

"I don't think Jordon's had lunch with anybody," he said.

Indeed, quarterback Gio Lopez said, where players are far more likely to see Hudson is in stories and photos shared on social media.

"I log on my phone and see something about Coach Belichick, so it is different, of course," said Lopez, who transferred from South Alabama this spring. "But you'd never think that about him. He's a normal guy, a normal coach. That's how he carries himself. He's very personable, not worried about the spotlight. he just does his job."

Belichick may be unconcerned with the spotlight, but his appearance Thursday at the ACC's annual kickoff event showed just how bright the spotlight will be for North Carolina. The ACC saw a nearly 50% increase in total credentials distributed to media, and hordes descended on the Charlotte Hilton in hopes of posing a question or snapping a photo. Nearly 200 media members crowded around a riser where Belichick sat for a "breakout" session, with so much demand that a UNC sports information staffer had to organize what was intended to be an open access Q&A.

Still, Belichick downplayed how much the cameras distinguish North Carolina from any other school.

"They follow [players] around and take miles of film," Belichick said. "I saw that at multiple schools last year when I visited. there's always somebody there with a camera. It's way worse than the NFL. At least in the NFL you know when they're there."

North Carolina opens the season in a primetime game against TCU on Sept. 1, and Belichick said that serves as his sole focus, noting that he's "pretty far away" from having a firm grasp on his team's ability to compete at the moment. North Carolina has 70 new players, including about 30 who joined after spring practice concluded.

If North Carolina isn't ready for Week 1, Shipp said, it won't be because of a lack of focus or distractions from the head coach and his girlfriend.

"If anything, I feel like it's not a distraction because it's always good to have somebody in your corner in the building, just knowing they support us," Shipp said. "We support Coach B no matter what he's doing. We're behind him 100%. Whatever stuff is in the news drug on more than it really was. It was never a distraction, never an issue, never a problem."