What Bill Belichick said about Robert Kraft's snub from book and other takeaways from 'CBS Sunday Morning' interview (2025)

Patriots

Belichick insisted that Robert Kraft didn't fire him as Patriots head coach while his girlfriend interjected during his "CBS Sunday Morning" interview.

By Conor Roche

April 27, 2025

3 minutes to read

Many of the early reviews of Bill Belichick’s new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” focused on the same exclusion from the book rather than what he included in it: Where is Robert Kraft?

The Patriots’ owner wasn’t mentioned once in the 289 pages, nor was he named in the acknowledgements section of the book, according to The Boston Globe‘s Dan Shaughnessy.

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Belichick was pressed on Kraft’s exclusion from the book by Tony Dokoupil. When Dokoupil mentioned Kraft’s snub, Belichick replied, “he’s not,” before explaining why he didn’t want to include his former boss in the book.

“Well, again, it’s about my life lessons in football and it’s really more about the ones that I experienced directly,” Belichick said.

Belichick’s book is described as such, with it being focused on his football principles and philosophies. But there are personal anecdotes in the book as well, according to multiple early reviews. In a chapter titled “Mistakes,” Belichick mentioned the Patriots’ decision to not draft Lamar Jackson and the way Tom Brady left the team as a pair of examples, according to The Boston Globe‘s Ben Volin.

Brady’s departure led to a shaky last few years for Belichick in New England, with the team making the playoffs just once in four seasons. Kraft has cast blame on Belichick for Brady’s decision to leave the Patriots, with the owner being criticized for comments he made about the coach in the 2024 docuseries “The Dynasty: New England Patriots.”

After Dokoupil brought up that Kraft wasn’t included in the acknowledgements section of the book, Belichick replied by saying, “correct. Dokoupil followed that up by asking Belichick if he felt he was treated with “dignity and respect” by the Patriots owner when he was let go in January 2024.

“Well, it was a mutual decision for us to part ways,” Belichick replied.

At the time of Belichick’s departure, the Patriots said that the team and the head coach had mutually agreed to part ways following 24 seasons together. But Kraft changed the verbiage of Belichick’s dismissal in the ensuing months. Kraft said that he “had to fire” Belichick in an interview with “The Breakfast Club” last October.

Dokoupil mentioned that Kraft has recently called Belichick’s departure from the Patriots as a firing as well. Belichick insisted that wasn’t the case.

“It was a mutual decision,” Belichick said.

Here are a few other takeaways from Belichick’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview.

Belichick’s girlfriend shuts down question

Belichick’s relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, was also brought up in the interview. In fact, Dokoupil said that Hudson “was a constant presence” during the interview. One of the b-roll shots shows an image Hudson appearing to help Belichick with his mic.

As Hudson sat off to the side during the interview, Dokoupil asked how Belichick met his girlfriend.

“We’re not talking about this,” Hudson interjected before Belichick replied.

“No?” Dokoupil asked as he turned to Hudon.

“No,” Hudson replied.

Dokoupil said that it was a topic that “neither of them is comfortable commenting on.” However, Belichick was asked earlier in the interview how he deals with some of the comments people have made about his relationship with Hudson.

“Never been too worried about what everybody else thinks,” Belichick responded. “Just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what’s right.”

Belichick’s relationship with Hudson has also led to him creating an Instagram account. He got a laugh when Dokoupil called it “InstaFace,” one of the made up names Belichick gave to describe a social media app during his time with the Patriots.

However, Belichick didn’t laugh when Dokoupil mentioned some of the images of him and Hudson that have gone viral in recent months and asked what the reaction has been like.

“I’m on some of those social media platforms, but I honestly don’t follow them,” Belichick sternly replied.

Belichick wore a Navy football pullover with holes in it

To help further make it an on-brand interview for Belichick, he also dressed in some attire that many were used to seeing him wear when he took the podium during his later seasons as Patriots head coach. With the interview being held at Annapolis High School, Belichick decided to wear an old Navy football pullover, which included a big hole on the chest.

Dokoupil wondered how the big hole on the pullover came to be, but Belichick didn’t have an answer.

“You can see I’ve worn this one for a while,” Belichick replied when asked what was going on with his attire.