It just got $9 million cheaper for Bill Belichick to blow off UNC football

The Bill Belichick contract wrinkle that sees his buyout drop by $9 million before he even coaches a game for North Carolina is in effect.When he was hired as coach of the Tar Heels in December, Belichick’s contract buyout started at $10 million per year, but the 73-year-old apparently negotiated a clause that sees the number drop to $1 million as of June 1.When the clause was uncovered shortly after Belichick’s hire, widespread belief was that it was an escape valve for the former Patriots head coach to easily return to the NFL.While that might have been the intention at one point, it’s become a lot more understandable since then why the NFL hasn’t touched the former Super Bowl champion since the Patriots fired him.Belichick’s tenure at UNC has so far been completely overshadowed by the ongoing saga surrounding his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.Hudson, who is 49 years Belichick’s junior, has become an inextricable part of the story at North Carolina.Throughout the offseason, reports have surfaced of her increasing influence on the head coach and the story went nuclear when she shot down a question on “CBS Sunday Morning” about how the two met, saying — off-camera — “We’re not talking about this.”Their relationship has become a daily talking point as a result, with podcaster Pablo Torre breaking a number of high-profile stories around the relationship and recently threatening to sue UNC over failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.Hudson called Torre’s reporting “factually incorrect, slanderous, defamatory and targeted” in an Instagram story that was quickly taken down after his episode investigating Ring doorbell camera footage of Belichick leaving a rendezvous with Hudson.Given that no one in the NFL was hiring Belichick before all this was happening, it’s impossible to believe someone would now, regardless of his buyout.Belichick’s contract with UNC runs through 2029....