PORTLAND, Maine — This time, Jordon Hudson was in the spotlight. Instead of wearing a Navy sweatshirt while sitting on the sidelines for her boyfriend Bill Belichick’s recent “CBS Mornings” interview, this time, the 24-year-old Hudson wore an emerald green swimsuit and a purple evening gown with sequins.
As for Belichick, the 73-year-old first-year North Carolina football coach was among the 200 or so spectators on hand for the preliminary round of the 2025 Miss Maine USA pageant, held Saturday night in the main ballroom of the Holiday Inn by the Bay in downtown Portland.
The preliminary round, which included contestants for Miss Maine USA and Miss Maine Teen USA, lasted barely 45 minutes. Swimsuit competition. Evening gown competition. Lots of chit-chat from the two hosts. That was about it. Hudson — that is, Miss Hancock, as she was representing the small Maine town she lived in as a child — struck me as a tad choppy as she toured the stage in the swimsuit competition. But she seemed comfortable — I might go so far as to say regal — in the purple gown with the sequins. In both cases, she shot a glance at Belichick, who from Hudson’s view was seated to the far left, front row. How close was Belichick to Hudson? As close as Hudson was to Belichick in the “CBS Mornings” interview.
Neither Hudson, who also wore a gold dress during introductions, nor Belichick made any public comments at the event. As such, there would have been no need for Belichick to say, “We’re not talking about that,” as Hudson did when CBS interviewer Tony Dokoupil tried to ask Belichick how he and Hudson met. A meet-and-greet for the contestants and their friends and family members was held after the preliminary, but only after the ballroom was cleared of media. Several announcements were made, lest some journalist try to get cozy with the family of, say, Miss Cumberland County and then cozy up to Belichick.
A “pizza and pajama party” was scheduled afterward.
But this was less about what Belichick/Hudson said or didn’t say, and more about the fact they were seen together after a week in which dueling stories made the rounds about how much involvement Hudson will have with the UNC football program. After the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast reported that Hudson is banned from the UNC football facility, the school issued a statement saying, in effect, no, no, no, that’s not true. “While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” the UNC statement read.
Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson pose at the NFL Honors event in New Orleans in February. (Christopher Polk / Variety via Getty Images)
Which brings us back to the main ballroom of the Holiday Inn by the Bay. Belichick was there — as in front-row there. No standing off in the wings. He wasn’t wearing a fedora, overcoat and fake mustache. He was on full display as Jordon Hudson’s boyfriend. As was made clear in a recent statement to CBS expressing criticism of the network’s handling of the interview, and as was affirmed Saturday night, Belichick shares “both a personal and professional relationship” with Hudson, who was the runner-up at this event last year.
When Hudson interrupted the CBS interview to challenge the question from Dokoupil, that was, we can assume, the professional part of the relationship on display.
Belichick sitting in the front row Saturday night for the Miss Maine prelim? That, we can assume, is the personal part of the relation.
The pageant continues Sunday at 1 p.m., at which time a new Miss Maine will be chosen to advance to the Miss USA pageant. Or, as it was referenced during the opening announcements Saturday night in Portland, “… the Super Bowl of all pageants.”
(Top photo of Jordon Hudson: Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)
