Local TV interview of Bill Belichick comes with key condition: No Jordon Hudson questions

Bill Belichick doesn't want to talk about the person who notoriously told him not to talk about how they met.

During the ACC Spring Meetings, Belichick agreed to do a sit-down interview with Brian Murphy of WRAL-TV in Raleigh. Before the interview plays, Murphy explains that North Carolina asked him "to keep questions about football."

Murphy will get credit from some for disclosing that North Carolina told him not to ask about the Jordon Hudson dynamic. But Murphy had to add that disclaimer; otherwise, people would watch the six-minute interview and get to the end and wonder what the hell happened.

Frankly, Murphy and WRAL should have refused to do the interview. Hey, UNC, you want free publicity for your football program? Don't attach stupid conditions on the questions that can and can't be asked.

Bill Belichick is a big boy. Despite his accomplishments, he's not above being asked the most obvious question anyone would ask him.

He chose to involve Hudson in his professional life. Even though he tried to claim during an ESPN interview on Wednesday that it's simply a "personal relationship," it wasn't and it isn't. He allowed that to happen.

Belichick does himself no favors by running from the questions that naturally flow from this most unusual set of circumstances. UNC, which reportedly has hired former Bears P.R. executive Brandon Faber, does Belichick no favors by attempting to shield "the greatest coach of all time" from fair questions about the extent to which she was involved in the football operation — and how that came to an end.

There's still an unresolved issue over Pablo Torre's report that Hudson had been banned from the football facility and UNC's carefully-worded statement that, at the most superficial level, refutes the reporting. Something went down in the aftermath of the disastrous CBS interview. Why should Belichick be shielded from answering questions about the apparent push-and-pull that resulted in Hudson being very involved with UNC football to not being involved at all.

Remember, UNC is a public institution. It receives public money. The idea that UNC would limit public access to relevant information has a much different feel than it would if it were a truly private business.

Above all else, the situation proves (conclusively, in our view) that Belichick is bothered by all of this. That he allowed himself to get over his skis. That he flew close to the sun on wings of on to Cincinnati.

Belichick created a personal situation that became a professional situation that morphed into one of the biggest stories in all of sports. Even if he didn't plan it for publicity purposes (and he surely didn't), it happened.

Conditioning interviews on the interviewer not even checking the box with a question that allows him to recite his talking point makes him look lame. It makes him look small. It makes him look weak. Which is the worst look any football coach can have.

It all continues in two days, when Belichick appears on Good Morning America. Does ABC really need to have EXCLUSIVE! access to Belichick if exclusivity entails the exclusion of the most interesting subject?

If Belichick or UNC attempt to attach any conditions to that interview, GMA should cancel it. The ratings for Friday's show will be the same either way.