Who Wants to Handle Bill Belichick's Book Launch?

Andy Blum

If you had your choice of PR clients, former New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick might not be the best way to go. He has always been surly with the press, but recently with a new job, a new book out and a 24-year-old girlfriend sticking her nose into PR, media coverage has turned negative again for the 73-year-old football legend.

Belichick was being interviewed for the April 27 edition of CBS Sunday Morning about his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” when the reporter Tony Dokoupil asked how the six-time Super Bowl champion coach had first met his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.

“We’re not talking about this,” interjected Hudson, who was sitting on set during the taping and was acting as Belichick’s de facto PR person. CBS kept that exchange in their story and it went downhill for Belichick after that, with other media coverage of the interview. And SNL recently poked fun at Belichick and Hudson.

Belichick is now the head football coach for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after he and the Patriots reportedly reached a mutual parting of the ways in 2024. (A disclaimer here: I attended UNC and am a huge UNC basketball fan, but have never liked Belichick or the Patriots.)

His book was published on May 6 by Simon & Schuster.

After the CBS interview aired, Belichick was upset and claimed that CBS did not honor agreed upon conditions for the taping. “I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter and the producers that I preferred to keep that conversation centered on the book,” Belichick said. “After this occurred several times, Jordon stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion.”

CBS responded to Belichick’s criticism, saying it was agreed upon that it would be a “wide-ranging” interview.

I have been in PR and book publicity for almost 30 years and this is one of the ongoing sticky issues for interviews—what will the topics be and what will the questions be? And is anything off the table? I have gone over similar issues hundreds of times with reporters, editors and TV producers. Book publicity interviews can often go in different directions, so Belichick should have been better prepared, especially since his girlfriend was sitting in on the interview. Their relationship was bound to come up as a question.

Here I believe CBS, not Belichick—given his track record of being surly with the press. I get it, though. He didn’t want to talk about his girlfriend and how they met. But he and Hudson have put themselves out there publicly as a dual personal and professional couple and he had her sitting in on the interview in a PR capacity. And, yes some of the media coverage of all this is no doubt sexist due to their relationship and their 49-year age difference.

But you can’t have a do-over of the interview. It happened, it aired, and the media food chain picked it up. Belichick probably made a mistake allowing his girlfriend on set in her PR capacity and made everything worse when he made comments after the interview aired about how he felt CBS didn’t stick to agreed upon topics. He kept the story going more news cycles—a no-no in PR 101.

Even Belichick seemed to admit this later, since according to multiple media reports, he is now seeking professional PR help.

According to those media reports, Belichick wants to get his book tour back on track and also help the PR interests of UNC football. (UNC so far isn’t commenting.) Along those lines,he has reportedly been having conversations with former Bears VP of communications Brandon Faber to help him turn his PR around.

Yes, Belichick needs a PR pro. But the cat is already out of the bag and his rep for being surly and terse with the media doesn't help. It can be bumpy when one PR person replaces another in the same high-profile PR project, but it is the only way for him to go here.

Some advice for Belichick: You work for UNC now, so for your next TV interview, wear a UNC shirt or a UNC jersey, work on a PR plan and listen to the PR person you hire. Keep your girlfriend as your girlfriend, and keep her off the set for any TV interviews.

Doing this can help him sell books. And maybe UNC can again he happy they hired Belichick as their new football coach.

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Andrew Blum is a PR consultant and media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He had directed proactive and crisis PR for a wide range of clients, and has also directed PR for more than 40 book authors. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms