The sports world was left in disbelief when it was announced that Bill Belichick and the University of North Carolina would replace an NFL team to headline the offseason edition of Hard Knocks on HBO. However, it turned out to be too good to be true.
While the prospect of Belichick launching his own rendition of Hard Knocks in Chapel Hill was highly captivating, several factors seemed to derail the chance for fans to witness the coaching legend’s journey in his inaugural season as a college coach. Firstly, it became clear that NFL owners weren’t particularly keen on NFL Films shifting its focus to Belichick’s new college endeavor. Furthermore, some speculated that Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, may have influenced the Tar Heels’ decision to backtrack. Although the official reason cited was “creative control,” many believe there might be more behind the scenes.
Michael Lombardi, while not addressing Hudson directly, provided insight on The Pat McAfee Show about why the collaboration didn’t manifest. “We control the story that we need to tell here and the story that we wanna tell doesn’t end after we play TCU,” he explained.
“We control the story that we need to tell here and the story that we wanna tell doesn’t end after we play TCU..
The story that we wanna tell is about rebuilding this program” ~ @mlombardiuncgm #PMSLive https://t.co/pnsXC8WqFG pic.twitter.com/m75vQUH4NP
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 19, 2025
He continued, “It would’ve been great. The problem was that we control the story we need to tell here. And the story that we want to tell doesn’t end after we play TCU. The story we want to convey is about how we’re rebuilding this program and honoring the great players before us. We aim to restore Tar Heel football and energize this stadium on Saturday afternoons, just like many other schools in the ACC.”
“When it stops after the first game, like Hard Knocks does, it doesn’t really serve any purpose to tell that story. That really was the concern we had here. We’re storytellers; if you let us into the building, we’re going to share a narrative about how we’re working to build this program, which extends into the later months of the season; it can’t stop at Labor Day. I think that was more the issue.”
Lombardi also addressed the “misinformation” surrounding the situation and took a jab at Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, criticizing his reporting on Belichick’s staff formation at Chapel Hill and dismissing him as “somebody who runs a website.” To Lombardi’s credit, the initial report about the Chapel Hill-Hard Knocks collaboration actually came from Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, not Florio.
In conclusion, while the vision of Hard Knocks in Chapel Hill may have disintegrated, Belichick and his team remain focused on a much larger narrative: one of revitalization and restoration for a historic program in the long term, which may include some barbs aimed at Florio along the way.
