About that Bill Belichick Interview on CBS

The aftermath is even worse.

If nothing else, I am a constant student of how media works. My curiosity about media and pop culture got me into publicity. Well, that, and the fact that I thought I wanted to be a journalist and dropped that idea when my first journalism professor gave us an assignment that required interviewing people about Valentine’s Day. I dropped the class.

My understanding of the media is a blessing and a curse. It has gotten me far in my career, but it is a curse because sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth about why their book isn’t getting media coverage (that is a newsletter for another day). I can also be “a piece of work,” to quote family members, at gatherings when I explain the media. Don’t worry; I embrace it.

This week, CBS Sunday Morning aired an interview with Bill Belichick. For those who are unfamiliar, Belichick was the head coach of the New England Patriots from 2000 to 2023. During that time, he led the team to six Super Bowl victories and has the most playoff coaching wins ever. In short, the guy is a legend, whether you love or hate him. His interview on CBS Sunday Morning was in advance of the publication of his book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football, which will be published on May 6.

I catch CBS Sunday Morning whenever I can. It’s a great show, and the segments are meaty. While I didn’t watch it during its original airtime yesterday, I saw a clip on social media that made me want to see the entire interview on YouTube. Belichick is notoriously media-averse, so I was curious about what version of him showed up for this. It was the version of him that anyone who watches football knows: short answers, non-answers, and awkward pauses. However, that’s not what stood out to me. It was the fact that the show aired a part of the interview when Tony Dokoupil brought up Belichick’s girlfriend Jordan Hudson, who happens to be 49 years his junior (she is 24, he is 73). When Dokoupil asked Belichick how they met, Hudson, watching the interview on a monitor, replied, “We’re not discussing that.” It was also disclosed during the segment that Hudson was “a constant presence” during the interview. They even aired a photo of her seemingly giving Belichick guidance on set, which was the high school Belichick attended in Maryland.

The clip of that moment in the interview went viral on the internet at warp speed. Other media outlets picked it up, and by last night, NBC Sports reported that Jordan Hudson “stormed off” the interview set and delayed taping by 30 minutes. TMZ had the story first (FWIW, I believe TMZ). The detail that surprised me the most was that no one from Belichick’s publisher, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, was at the taping. My inclination here is to assume Belichick didn’t want anyone else present. Allegedly, Ms. Hudson interrupted the interview several times, even when Belichick spoke about football. This caused a story that would’ve simmered down by now to blow up even more. But wait, there’s more!

Today, Ms. Hudson posted this email to her Instagram account (credit to my 20-year-old son for texting it to me):

Coach, I would like to offer you some advice: Stop. Now. That means your girlfriend needs to stop, too, because I would bet money she wrote the email (and did not hide the recipients’ names!). CBS Sunday Morning is a tough get for publicity. I know, because I once worked on them for months to get them to interview a celebrity. When it finally happened, the filming was done at the celebrity’s home, in the backyard, on a scorching July day. I dutifully and quietly sat before a monitor for hours with headphones to ensure nothing went off the rails. It didn’t, because the folks at CBS Sunday Morning are some of the best people in the media industry.

In Belichick’s case, what’s happening is that his girlfriend (not even a little bit trained in matters of the media!) is becoming the story. Rule #1 in PR: Publicists should never become the story. Ms. Hudson acts like a de facto publicist and fails miserably. The email she posted reminded me of ones I’ve received from authors when they need me to, what I call, “explain life to them.” You can’t dictate headlines. You can’t dictate interviews. You can’t dictate what bits of a book the media focuses on. Don't put it in a book if you don’t want them to focus on something. And not for anything, but if you don’t want to be asked questions about things in your life that are not in the book, either don’t write a book, or try to negotiate what’s off-limits with the media. Certainly do not—DO NOT—post an email like this to the public. All it shows is that you are not media literate and do not know how books sell. By doing this, Belichick and Hudson are prolonging an already fraught media cycle about them…and not about the book. They’ve quickly gone from a book PR campaign to crisis communications mode.

I’ve worked with plenty of celebrities, but no one more famous than Prince (The Purple One). Do you know who was more media-averse than Bill Belichick? Prince. I could have gotten him on any media I wanted, but he was 100% not going to do it. We didn’t force it, and he spoke to the Associated Press and The New Yorker. There were perimeters: No one could ask about his marriage or his child, who passed away. That is fair. The other media-averse celebrity (though he would have never accepted himself as a celebrity) I worked with was Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. The first day I had to collect him from a hotel in NYC, he hung up on me three times. The fourth time was a charm, and going on book tour with him was one of the most memorable times in my career. He was guarded, but we built trust, and I was protective. I knew I had reached his soft spot when he called me “Little Schmidt.” Still, there were limits to the media he’d do, and a lot of specifications at book signings. I implemented everything, and all was well.

In Belichick’s case, he (and/or his girlfriend) is under the illusion that they can control the narrative. Maybe before the CBS Sunday Morning debacle, they could have. Now that the train has left the station, they’ll have to deal with the onslaught, which helps no one. It is disrespectful to every person who worked to get his book out into the world. The amount of stress this behavior causes in-house is palpable. After I spent 8 months dealing with Prince, I disappeared for a week. No one thought I was coming back. It’s not that Prince made it terrible; the people surrounding him created difficult situations. It was exhausting.

This is when I tell you I am a diehard New England Patriots fan. I’ve been exposed to Bill Belichick for 25 years. I’ve seen his news conferences, and he was notorious for one-word answers. He does not play nicely in the sandbox with media (unless he is in the company of the Manning brothers and Pat McAfee). That said, even I would take a hard line with Coach and tell him what’s what. That doesn’t mean he’d listen. What struck me about Bill Russell was that he knew he committed to something—promoting his book—and he, as you would expect, followed through with it. Coach Belichick should do the same, without the interference of someone not qualified to manage a PR campaign. Instead, he should listen to his agent, publisher, and the publicity director at Avid Reader. If he doesn’t, many people who spent their days working to make his book successful will wish they had never seen it.

END NOTES:

A special ask: I am compiling a spreadsheet of newsletters and contact information. If you’re interested in being on my list for book releases, events, etc., get in touch: publishingconfidential@gmail.com

Please include the name of your newsletter, what you write about, the number of subscribers, your contact email, and what kind of books interest you. Don’t worry, your info will not be shared, and I will not spam you with pitches. I’m being very intentional about this.