By R.L. Bynum

As Carolina coach Bill Belichick did interviews in Amelia Island, Fla., during the ACC Spring Meetings, it’s clear that there are two subjects he’s avoiding — his girlfriend and what specifically will make his first season successful.

Jordon Hudson, his 24-year-old girlfriend, has been the subject of many stories since she interjected, “We’re not talking about that,” when Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick on April 27 during a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview how they met.

The ground rules of Belichick’s interview with WRAL’s Brian Murphy were that the topic of Hudson was “off the table.” That wasn’t the case when ESPN’s Christine Williamson talked to him Tuesday afternoon on “SportsCenter.”

Williamson asked about the impact of the recent stories about Hudson on his ability to coach the football team.

“That’s really off to the side — personal relationship, and she doesn’t have anything to do with UNC football,” Belichick said of Hudson, who UNC acknowledged last week manages all activities related to his personal brand outside of his responsibilities for the football program and the university.

As for a subject that most Tar Heels fans care much more about — what UNC can accomplish in his first season — he continues to shy away from mentioning specific metrics such as win totals, bowls or titles in setting goals.

Carolina opens the Belichick era at 8 p.m. on Sept. 1 (ESPN) against TCU.

In both interviews, he said success is “getting better every day.”

“Just try to stack good days together. Good day, come back, get ready, have the next day, build higher. Just keep building the higher ground,” Belichick told Williamson. “It’ll be a long process. Just want to get better day after day after day, and keep stacking those good days together.”

Williamson asked what success looks like.

“Just to stack good days on top of each other, and we’ll see where the process takes us,” Belichick said. “I believe in the process. I believe in what we’re doing, and we have a lot of people working really hard. We’ll just keep putting those together and see where it goes.”

Murphy asked Belichick about South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez, and he wasn’t about to anoint Lopez as the starter, at least publicly.

“The competition is always in the hands of the players,” Belichick said. “I can’t control performance. We’ll give everybody an opportunity, let the players compete, and we’ll see how it all turns out. We’re excited to have the competition, not only at quarterback, but really at most every position on the field. Again, it’ll be up to the players to perform and earn those spots. Everything will be earned. And we’re not handing anything out. It’ll be competitive. And the guys will get what they earn.”

Belichick will no doubt get many similar questions Friday when former NFL star and co-host Michael Strahan interviews him on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

---

UNC schedule

Month/ date	Opponent
September
1 (Monday), 8 p.m., ESPN	vs. TCU
6	at Charlotte
13	vs. Richmond
20	at Central Florida
October
4	vs. Clemson
17 (Friday)	at California
25	vs. Virginia
31 (Friday)	at Syracuse
November
8	vs. Stanford
15	at Wake Forest
22	vs. Duke
29	at N.C. State

Photo via ESPN screenshot