The pairing of Bill Belichick and Michael Lombardi, two men who had almost zero college experience, together at North Carolina was always going to be boom or bust.
In the best-case scenario, the NFL's greatest head coach and a former NFL general manager would use their decades of NFL experience to capitalize on the professionalization of college football and elevate the Tar Heels into the upper echelon of the sport.
Instead, we are seeing what's closer to the worst-case scenario. Belichick, who makes $10 million annually, went a ghastly 4-8 in a first season beset by off-field drama and a poor on-field product. Lombardi was put on paid administrative leave on Monday as the university investigates the highly paid general manager.
"As a result of concerns behind allegations that led to the personnel action regarding Michael Lombardi announced on July 27, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, through its Office of University Counsel, is in the process of investigating this matter," the school said in a statement on Thursday. "Because this involves confidential personnel issues, the University will not comment on the nature of the allegations or discuss personnel Information."
Notably, it was the university and not Belichick or the athletic department who put Lombardi on leave. According to multiple reports, it was because of a human relations-related complaint from a former staffer. UNC general manager Steve Newmark said Thursday he hoped for an "expedited process" into the investigation but that "it's also important that they do it the right way and they gather the information that they need."
If this is soon-to-be the end of Lombardi at UNC, it will mark the most calamitous general manager tenure in the Name, Image and Likeness era.
"The next good word I hear about Lombardi will be the first one," says an agent familiar with the situation at UNC. "I can't remember a disaster quite like it."
Lombardi, the highest-paid general manager in the sport at $1.5 million, was a curious hire from the start. He had last worked in college football at UNLV in 1984. It was clear that there was a tremendous amount of trust between the two men dating back to their time working together with the Cleveland Browns. Rick Venturi, a defensive backs coach with the Browns under Belichick, told me, "I think there is a genuine respect and that's not easy with Bill. You have to be pretty special for him to give you that kind of trust and respect that he has for Mike."
But even at the time of his hire, those around college sports questioned the strategy behind pairing a first-time college head coach with a first-time college general manager. Lombardi hadn't worked in football in nearly a decade, instead writing books and appearing on The Bill Simmons Show and The Pat McAfee Show. He had last been a general manager in 2013 with the Cleveland Browns.
"Scouting in the NFL is a little bit different than scouting a 17-year-old high school kid in rural North Carolina," said one Power 4 head coach. "All these NFL guys look at college football now and they think it's just like the NFL. No, it's not."
Before last season, I profiled how Lombardi became Belichick's consigliere. There's a renaissance man quality to Lombardi that makes him fascinating to talk to but leads critics to believe he's full of it. Reading back the piece, there is one quote that sticks out to me that explains a lot of the later issues. I asked Lombardi about the trend of high-profile coaches in college football and college basketball leaving because of NIL, the transfer portal and other related issues.
"We've lived this life," Lombardi told me. "In fairness for those other coaches, they never really have. We've lived this life where the locker room is a business office, not a locker room. Not to say it gives us an advantage, but it gives us a knowledge of what's the terrain.
"We used to say this at the Raiders all the time, 'The jungle is never dangerous if you know the trails.' We know these trails."
The trails Belichick and Lombardi have taken have led them to a cliff.
The UNC brain trust was caught off-guard in its first transfer portal experience. They didn't have built-in relationships with players and their agents, and weren't expecting college football's version of free agency to move so quickly. They preferred Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne over North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris, according to multiple sources, only to later run off Browne and have to add South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez. Morris, who ended up at UVA, threw for 3,000 yards and 16 touchdowns on an 11-win UVA team that beat UNC in 2025.
In UNC's second transfer portal go-around last spring, Lombardi and Co. could be all over the place in their offers. Player agents disliked dealing with Lombardi because of perceived arrogance and a misunderstanding of the marketplace. A player might have a $800,000 offer elsewhere and Lombardi would offer $350,000 and expect the player to take that big a discount to play for Belichick.
"I don't mean to pray on his downfall or anything but the guy just does a shitty job and doesn't deserve the title," says a NIL agent who has had to negotiate with Lombardi. "Lombardi is hurting that program."
While Lombardi has touted UNC as the NFL's "33rd team," the program has been bereft of NFL-caliber talent. Not a single UNC player was taken in the most recent NFL Draft. There isn't much confidence that more than a couple players could be taken in next year's draft, either.
Belichick has previously defended his general manager. In October, the UNC head coach said of Lombardi: "What he's doing to help our program is monumental." Now, it appears Lombardi's fate is out of Belichick's hands.
