Bill Belichick has been the subject of plenty of headlines since taking over as the head coach of North Carolina football ahead of the 2025 season, and would likely prefer that more of them were about football.

The drama hit a new high while Belichick was being interviewed by CBS during the promotional tour of his new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football. The interview featured several awkward moments, including when Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson appeared to shut down a question from reporter Tony Dolkoupil regarding how the couple met. That moment resulted in a predictably less-than-ideal storm of media attention and a statement from Belichick accusing CBS of using selective editing to “suggest a false narrative.”

Still, Belichick has a book to promote, and thus the media tour continued this week with an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America moderated by former NFL star Michael Strahan. This interview went a bit smoother—surely to the delight of Belichick, but to the despair of radio host and Stephen A. Smith foil Chris Russo.

Speaking as a guest on the Rich Eisen Show on Monday, Russo criticized ABC for what he saw as a softball interview.

“One of the most awkward interviews I’ve ever seen in my life,” Russo said. “What ABC did there, ABC gave carte blanche to Belichick. ‘Bill, we want you on, tell us what questions you want [us] to ask.’

“ABC was horrific. Essentially, they sold their journalism chops to make sure Belichick, because he was in the news, was on the air. That was a horrific job by a worthy news organization. And then they put Strahan in a tough spot, because we all know Strahan is not Mike Wallace,” Russo continued, invoking the late 60 Minutes correspondent. “He’s an ex football player. No knock against Strahan, but that’s an impossible situation, one of his old coaching brethren—he’s not going to put him on the spot.”

Russo went on to note all of the things the show could have asked Belichick, but didn’t, from his missing out on the head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons to his relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and much, much more.

“There’s so many things you’ve got to ask him, and they asked him nothing,” Russo concluded.

Russo has been critical of Belichick’s media tour since the CBS interview, having torn into the former New England Patriots coach with an epic rant on ESPN’s First Take.

Despite the drama surrounding the tour, Belichick’s book is an apparent success, having made the New York Times best-seller list on the week of its release.

While the book might be selling well, chances are that, for Belichick, football season cannot come soon enough.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chris Russo Goes Off on ‘Good Morning America’ Interview With Bill Belichick.

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