Mounting dysfunction under Bill Belichick has UNC student body president calling for 'independent review'

Bill Belichick's tenure at North Carolina has become a disaster faster than anyone could have anticipated. The legendary coach has not only seen the Tar Heels take a step back on the football field, playing like one of the worst power-conference teams in the country, but has also failed to lay any sort of foundation of a strong locker room culture for which his Patriots teams were famous. 

Instead, there are mounting reports of program dysfunction that have led to greater interest in exactly what is going on under Belichick. Among those seeking answers is UNC's student body president, Adolfo Alvarez, who called for transparency from the school in the form of an "independent review" while speaking with The Athletic: 

"I do think that the university should launch an independent review of the culture that's happening within the team, in the locker room, because I think that there should be zero tolerance for non-compliance," Alvarez said.

Alvarez stressed his main concern was the well-being of the players.

"Even though sometimes student-athletes can be seen as young professional players, at the end of the day, they are students, they're young, and they are part of our community," Alvarez said. "They're under a lot of pressure and they're very often under the national media circus. Especially right now with coach Belichick. That shouldn't come at the cost of their well-being, and their families also deserve to feel included, and they deserve to feel like they're getting the same consistency that UNC was known for under our last coach."

Belichick and athletic director Bubba Cunningham handed out short, lukewarm statements about their commitment to each other late on Wednesday night, but that did nothing to calm the onslaught of questions and frustration from the UNC faithful. 

Firing Belichick without cause would be difficult because his buyout is more than $20 million right now. If Belichick leaves on his own or is fired with cause, North Carolina could cut bait before things get worse without the prohibitive cost; however, recent examples of coaches being fired for cause due to violations have led to legal battles, with the schools still paying much of the buyout anyway. 

A hollow vote of confidence caps Bill Belichick's most absurd week yet at UNC (and it's only Thursday)

Richard Johnson

It's not clear whether there's been anything truly untoward going on in the football program, or if it is simply a dysfunctional, disorganized mess. The alleged recruiting violation resulting in the suspension of cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins is said to involve handing out sideline passes to player families, which seems to be more of an issue of being sloppy than anything else. 

Still, Belichick's presence has drawn tons of eyeballs into UNC's football program, for better or worse, and right now it's unquestionably the latter. The college football world is rubbernecking at a seemingly never-ending car crash in Chapel Hill, and the embarrassment is so great that the student body president now wants a full accounting of what's happening.