Pete Thamel explains UNC decision to hire Bill Belichick PR specialist

Amid the fallout from his CBS This Morning interview earlier this month, North Carolina reportedly planned to hire a PR specialist for Bill Belichick. ESPN’s Pete Thamel detailed what exactly that plan will look like.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported UNC was looking to bring in Brandon Faber, who previously served as the Chicago Bears’ vice president of communications. Thamel said he will solely work with Belichick, along with some NIL-related duties, while the school will also handle someone to handle the general football program PR.

Additionally, Thamel heard more pushback around a report that said Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, was banned from the Tar Heels facilities. UNC also released a statement refuting that report. Thamel also noted “lessons” the school learned about handling the publicity around Belichick considering his decorated NFL career.

“Made a few calls to North Carolina today to kind of take the temperature of where things were,” Thamel said on SportsCenter Friday evening. “I think the most important thing I gleaned today is they pushed back very hard at the notion of Jordon Hudson being banned from the facility, as was being reported today. I was simply told, unequivocally, that’s untrue. I do think from talking to people at North Carolina today, there are some lessons that they have learned. They hired an internationally famous celebrity to be their head coach, and with that, everything’s amplified. His hire was one of the biggest stories in sports, and these recent brush fires have been amplified because he is Bill Belichick and he is known throughout the world.

“One thing I was told today that Carolina is doing to help better manage Belichick and the publicity that inherently is going to surround him is they’re going to bring in a PR specialist – a veteran NFL PR guy they’re in the process of hiring. A guy named Brandon Faber, who worked with the Bears. And he is going to work just with Bill Belichick, along with doing some NIL and branding for his UNC PR. That’s in addition to another PR person they’re bringing in to handle the regular team work.”

Additionally, Thamel pointed out a change he noticed around Hudson’s social media. He and others around the industry don’t see as many posts about North Carolina football, and he further pointed out the lessons those around the program learned over the last few weeks.

“Another observation that I’ve made, and others have made, since the initial CBS This Morning interview is Jordon Hudson has clearly taken a step back from the amount she’s posting and the amount she’s tying herself to UNC,” Thamel said. “I just think there’s some lessons learned for everybody here about the size of the spotlight around Bill Belichick.

“And ultimately … Bill Belichick’s going to be judged by wins and losses. There’s a feeling and anxiousness to get on to TCU, I think, from the people at UNC. But ultimately, that’s where this hire is going to be graded.”