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Ex-Patriots Star Says North Carolina ‘Should Consider Firing Bill Belichick’

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Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson says the University of North Carolina “should consider firing” Bill Belichick over the issues with his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson. Quite an interesting take from Ted Johnson, a man who played for Belichick his entire 10-year NFL career.

“I hold college coaches to a higher standard than I do NFL coaches. When it comes to morally, they are supposed to leaders of men, set a good example, that kind of thing,” Ted Johnson said on Tuesday during his “Three-Point Stance” segment on WEEI Afternoons. “So that leads me to what’s going on at UNC with Bill Belichick. And I think, and I’m surprised UNC never called Atlanta on why they passed on Bill Belichick and hiring him. My feeling is that the Atlanta Falcons are kind of looking at UNC and going, ‘You should have called us, you should have called us.’

“And I say all that to say this, that I think the UNC Carolina Tar Heels should consider firing Bill Belichick. That they should consider letting him go at this point. It’s a lot of money and they’re deep into, obviously, their preparation for next year. But I look at Bill Belichick and I wonder if he’s fit to coach an NFL team, let alone fit to coach a college team. Which, again, I put more onus on the character and personality and just overall character, if you will, of a college coach than I do a pro coach, and so I’m worried that Bill Belichick just isn’t fit to coach college kids and UNC should consider cutting ties with Bill Belichick.”

That’s a very bold statement from Ted Johnson, who won three Super Bowls with Bill Belichick and was voted to the New England Patriots’ All-1990s Team. And he wasn’t done there.

When co-host Andy Hart asked Johnson what grounds the Tar Heels would have to fire Belichick before even coaching an actual game, he replied, “I just think, just what you’ve seen so far. The behaviors with Jordon, that dynamic, her being on the football field, her kind of just, I think, embarrassing Bill. People want to go, ‘Well, she’s taking control of Bill.’ You think Bill doesn’t have any say in how these things go? Of course he does. He’s okay with what she’s doing. He’s okay with her. You don’t think he knows that that email was being posted on her Instagram? Of course he knows. He’s signing off on that.

“And so to me, those are bad decisions that make him and the university look really bad, and question whether or not he is of sound mind and should be running a football team at the University of North Carolina. I think it’s just something you have to really, really consider. Just question the decision-making from the head coach at this point for those reasons.”