“Someone whose personality is not suited for fame”: Seth Wickersham breaks down Bill Belichick being “unabashedly himself”

North Carolina coach Bill Belichick has had a harsh welcome to the college football ranks after being appointed Tar Heels coach in December. Even before the season, during which big things are expected of him, has begun, his relationship with Jordon Hudson has dominated the tabloids in the past few weeks.

During Tuesday's segment of the "Up & Adams" show, ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham revealed that Belichick's media-shy personality is being tested in Chapel Hill with all the attention that his relationship with Hudson is getting.

"I mean, I think it's complicated," Wickersham said. "He's (Belichick) someone whose personality is not suited for fame. He loved being a head coach and he loved a lot of things that went with it, but he really reacted to the scrutiny and evasiveness that comes with the job his own way. He's kind of unabashedly himself. It's why he had so many of those memorable press conferences where he said nothing other than, 'On to Cincinnati.'

"What's gotta be difficult now is North Carolina hires him, they make him the highest-paid public employee in the state, and they think what they're getting is, at the minimum, a no-drama, buttoned-up football program, and yet all of the conversation has been about non-football, dramatic matters, and I think that probably has to bug him."

Bill Belichick defends girlfriend amid backlash

Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson have been a hot topic in both college football and NFL circles, but the couple went viral when the latter interrupted a CBS interviewer who attempted to ask the Tar Heels coach about their relationship during an interview two weeks ago.

The scrutiny of the legendary coach's relationship from former players, fans, and analysts was immediate and long-lasting, and during an interview with ESPN on Saturday, Belichick defended Hudson amid the widespread backlash.

"She's been terrific through the whole process, and she's been very helpful to me," Bill Belichick said. "She does the business things that don't relate to North Carolina that come up in my life, so I can concentrate on football, and that's really what I want to do.

"I acknowledged her in the book. She was very helpful on that with the tribute pages and also giving a perspective of the book from kind of a business side. Sometimes I get a little football technical, and she did a good job of keeping me on balance there."

The fallout from the incident was so widespread that North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham issued a statement rallying around Bill Belichick while denying reports that Jordon Hudson had been banned from the program's training facilities. Ahead of the upcoming college football season, the scrutiny around Belichick promises to reach a fever pitch for both on and off-field reasons.