The stage was set for a celebratory postgame presser Monday night after Bill Belichick’s highly hyped UNC coaching debut.
The only hiccup: Belichick and his Tar Heels were on the wrong end of a lop-sided 48-14 defeat to the TCU Horned Frogs in front of the hometown Chapel Hill crowd.
The fallout of the loss painted an awkward scene as a stoic Belichick, 73, spoke at the podium surrounded by clusters of silver, white and blue balloons, with social media naturally doing its thing by offering a myriad of jokes — some of which were directed at the coach’s biggest cheerleader, 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
“Did Jordon set up those balloons?” an X user asked.
“I’ll give you 24 guesses on who picked the backdrop decor,” one X user posted.
Hudson, whose romance with Belichick was first revealed in 2024, watched the game from a suite at Kenan Memorial Stadium, where she was seen beside NFL legend Randy Moss.
Beyond UNC’s successful opening drive, not much went right for the Tar Heels on Monday, which tallied just 222 total yards on offense compared to TCU’s 542.
“We played competitively but then just couldn’t sustain it,” Belichick said. “Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. We need to do a better job all the way around — coaching, playing, all three phases of the game.”
Fans of UNC, which hired Belichick as its next football coach in December 2024, were locating the exits by the third quarter, with TCU leading, 41-14, entering the fourth.
“They were clearly the better team tonight,” Belichick said. “They deserved to win and they did it decisively.”
The “talent” differentials were one of the many storylines entering Monday’s game, with ESPN’s Pete Thamel noting, “There’s more than 20 NFL scouts from 14 teams here, but not many Heels for them to watch.”
With UNC looking to rebound Saturday against Charlotte, perhaps the balloons will return in the event of a Tar Heel road victory lap.