{"id":292410,"date":"2025-10-10T16:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/292410\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:47:12","slug":"bill-belichick-pledged-an-nfl-approach-at-north-carolina-program-insiders-call-it-flawed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/292410\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Belichick pledged an NFL approach at North Carolina. Program insiders call it flawed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reported by Bruce Feldman, Brendan Marks and Stewart Mandel<\/strong><\/p>\n

North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris had thrown for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns when he put his name in the transfer portal shortly after the 2024 regular season. Two days later, on Dec. 11, North Carolina announced its hire<\/a> of Bill Belichick. Morris, now a sixth-year senior, who\u2019d previously played at Oklahoma and TCU, made it known he was interested in coming to play for the six-time Super Bowl champion.<\/p>\n

Belichick\u2019s right-hand man, general manager Michael Lombardi, was already making the decisions when it came to overhauling UNC\u2019s roster. He didn\u2019t want Morris, who was about 6-feet, 190 pounds, and did not have the strongest arm. Purdue\u2019s Ryan Browne, a 6-4, 210-pounder who had started two games for a 2-10 Boilers team, better fit the mold he and Belichick were seeking. Lombardi didn\u2019t hold back letting UNC\u2019s personnel staffers, a mix of holdovers and new hires, know why.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,\u201d he told them, according to a person briefed on the conversation, who, like more than 20 people interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity about their experiences of private conversations and decision-making within the program.<\/p>\n

Of course, knowing what it takes to play in the NFL might not be the same thing as knowing what it takes to win college football games, or more specifically, how the more mobile Morris might be a better fit than Browne to navigate behind an overmatched offensive line. Browne transferred to Chapel Hill, but bailed to go back to Purdue later in the spring. Morris signed with Virginia, a program that hasn\u2019t had a winning season since 2019, where he\u2019s led the Cavaliers into the AP top 20.<\/p>\n

The Athletic made several requests to speak with Belichick and Lombardi for this story. Lombardi declined comment, and a football spokesperson, Brandon Faber, said Belichick and the program would not be able to comment Friday because of UNC\u2019s open week and the coach\u2019s travel schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the arrogance of it all,\u201d a university source told The Athletic. \u201cBecause they had success in the NFL \u2014 and by they, I mean Belichick only \u2014 they (thought) they could come in and replicate that without knowing how college football works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only five games into Belichick\u2019s first season, UNC football has spiraled from nationally relevant to national punchline<\/a>. Tabloid fodder surrounding<\/a> the 73-year-old\u2019s relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson has given way to mockery over the 2-3 Tar Heels\u2019 lopsided losses to TCU (48-14), UCF (34-9) and Clemson (38-10). North Carolina ranks 133rd out of 136 teams in total offense (263.8 yards per game), and opponents are completing 70.3 percent of their passes, which ranks 131st.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gotten so bad that Belichick, who signed a five-year, $50 million contract last December, and athletic director Bubba Cunningham felt compelled to issue statements Wednesday<\/a> responding to rumors the coach might step down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fully committed to UNC Football and the program we\u2019re building here,\u201d the coach said, 10 days after the New York Post published photographs of Belichick and Hudson on a \u201cromantic getaway\u201d in Nantucket during an open weekend at the end of September. (He also attended a high school game that Friday in Eastern Massachusetts; many head coaches emphasize recruiting during an idle week. \u201cThere\u2019s not often that the head coach can go out during the season, because there\u2019s so much stuff going on,\u201d Lombardi said on his radio show.)<\/p>\n

\n

Statements from Carolina Athletics. pic.twitter.com\/g8zn6WoxTW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

UNC has no game this week, but a swirl of off-the-field headlines have kept the program in the news and raised questions about who is to blame for the mess. On Monday, WRAL-TV in Raleigh<\/a> published a story describing \u201ca divided locker room, a disorganized coaching staff and a failure to communicate.\u201d News emerged that a planned behind-the-scenes Hulu documentary about UNC\u2019s season had been scrapped, for unknown reasons<\/a>. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that Tar Heels cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins had been suspended<\/a> for an alleged NCAA extra benefits violation for giving a player\u2019s family members sideline passes for a game. The school announced the suspension on Thursday.<\/p>\n

UNC student body president Adolfo Alvarez said the university should launch an independent review of the program\u2019s culture. The university\u2019s chair of faculty, Beth Moracco, agreed. Moracco said the costs and processes from hiring Belichick were \u201cdemoralizing\u201d for some of her colleagues. Since then, she said, Belichick\u2019s hiring looks like a bad investment with a \u201ccircus-like atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were faculty concerns and questions at the time about how this decision was made and the optics of the whole situation,\u201d said Moracco, an associate professor in the department of health behavior who leads the school\u2019s faculty council. \u201cI think many of us now are just \u2014 it\u2019s kind of an embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people who spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity about the leadership of Belichick and Lombardi have worked either for the football program or for the university over the past year, or had direct dealings with the team.<\/p>\n

They described a culture of arrogance and ignoring of steep differences between college and pro football. There were some disagreements within the group regarding some specific assessments of Belichick and Lombardi, including a person inside the program who disputed that Belichick has been absent or inaccessible to his players.<\/p>\n

But that person also said the pair underestimated the difficulty of coaching college players, as evidenced by their public proclamations that UNC would be run exactly like an NFL franchise \u2014 \u201cWe consider ourselves the 33rd team,\u201d Lombardi said in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Belichick mentally prepares a team better than I\u2019ve ever imagined a coach could do,\u201d said the person inside the program. \u201cThe truth is, this is not the 33rd team. This is a team full of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chancellor Lee Roberts and Malcolm Turner, chair of the university\u2019s Board of Trustees, have publicly preached patience as the season unravels. Still, fans and university power brokers alike have wondered: Who thought this was a good idea, anyway? The worse things get in Chapel Hill \u2014 be it blowout losses or unnecessary off-field drama \u2014 the more finger-pointing emerges.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the hope that still existed on Labor Day, with Kenan Stadium glowing and UNC royalty \u2014 Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, Lawrence Taylor and more \u2014 there to mark Belichick\u2019s first game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously,\u201d Roberts told The Athletic ahead of Belichick\u2019s debut, \u201cit all comes down to results on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the start, the hiring of Belichick was divisive<\/a>. When Belichick was revealed as the next head coach, Lombardi, a 66-year-old New Jersey native, announced that same day he was leaving his show \u201cThe Lombardi Line\u201d on VSiN to join him in Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

The two began their bond more than 30 years earlier, in 1991, when Belichick became head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Lombardi was the franchise\u2019s pro personnel director. After Lombardi was fired as the Browns GM in 2013, he joined Belichick\u2019s staff in New England.<\/p>\n

Lombardi said on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show\u201d last December that the two first had been part of a scouting trip to UNC in 1992 and had long thought of it as a \u201cmagical place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, \u2018How in the hell can\u2019t you win here?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The winter transfer portal window opened two days before they took the lead in Chapel Hill, and the two embarked on a mad dash to flip UNC\u2019s roster. Belichick, a career-long NFL coach, had never recruited high schoolers. Lombardi had last worked in college football in 1984, as recruiting coordinator at UNLV.<\/p>\n

Two people at the university who interacted with the duo during that time said Belichick and Lombardi needed a crash course on how the college name, image and likeness space worked and revealed that they had no relationships with any players in the portal. For other programs in recent years, previous relationships have proven critical as coaches like Indiana\u2019s Curt Cignetti (hired from James Madison) and Washington\u2019s Jedd Fisch (Arizona) were able to jump-start their rebuilds by persuading several of their key players to make the move with them.<\/p>\n

Belichick and Lombardi said they preferred doing their own evaluations, the sources said, as Mack Brown\u2019s remaining staff prepared for the Fenway Bowl. A since-departed Brown staffer still there at the time described a chaotic atmosphere. Belichick had made only a few hires to that point, and they did not yet have defined roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like this weird revolving door of people in and out of meetings,\u201d the ex-staffer said. \u201cThey fired some GAs and QCs, and then realized they didn\u2019t have enough help and called a couple of them to come back after having fired them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As expected, Belichick hired his son Steve as defensive coordinator. He\u2019d spent the 2024 season in the same role on Fisch\u2019s Washington staff. Two Huskies players, cornerback Thaddeus Dixon and linebacker Khmori House, followed him. For offensive coordinator, Bill promoted Mack Brown\u2019s former tight ends coach, Freddie Kitchens, the one-time Cleveland Browns head coach.<\/p>\n

Lombardi, who signed a three-year, $4.5 million contract that made him the highest-paid general manager in college football, serves as UNC\u2019s point person when negotiating with agents. The Athletic spoke to six agents with clients who either played for UNC or were pursued by the team in the portal; most described Lombardi as either abrasive or dismissive toward them during their negotiations.<\/p>\n

One who took his client on a visit there said Lombardi told him, \u201cWe don\u2019t fall in love (with players)\u201d and, \u201cgave me the sales pitch about why would you say no to Bill Belichick?\u201d Another said Lombardi made a strong initial offer for his client, then lowered it considerably over a subsequent series of calls: \u201cHe made it impossible to get a deal done because at some point, I\u2019m being a bad agent for my client.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvin Gibson, an agent for Prolifiq Sports Group, is the father of UNC defensive back Gavin Gibson, who transferred from East Carolina after Belichick was hired. Gibson negotiated his son\u2019s deal with Lombardi.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike is very confident in his abilities to evaluate talent,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s a mean person. I just think he looks at players and says, \u2018This is the production and this is the valuation of that.\u2019 I can\u2019t say if it\u2019s fair or unfair, because I don\u2019t know what his skill evaluation is.\u201d<\/p>\n

One agent who visited North Carolina with a top-200 high school recruit this spring was shocked how uninvolved the on-field coaches were during the visit. The agent finally asked a position coach why he wasn\u2019t chatting up his recruit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be up his ass for three days,\u201d said that recruit\u2019s agent.<\/p>\n

Several sources said Belichick and Lombardi had little understanding of the salary structure in college; unlike the NFL, salary numbers aren\u2019t public. Three people said they overspent on some positions while hunting for bargains at others.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, they thought people would flock to play for (Belichick) and take less money,\u201d said a university source, \u201cbut they realized fast that that wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNC ultimately brought in 70 new players, including 41 transfers. Nearly 50 players from last year\u2019s 6-7 team went into the portal, including several players who left for schools that made bigger offers, such as pass-rusher Beau Atkinson (Ohio State), linebacker Amare Campbell (Penn State) and nose tackle Travis Shaw (Texas). Several of UNC\u2019s current defensive starters are transfers who had barely played at their previous Power 4 schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have one pro player on the whole roster,\u201d one of the people within the program said.<\/p>\n

Still, nobody at the university expected problems this severe, with the team failing to compete against Power 4 opponents and likely to miss a bowl game for the first time since 2018.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Can Bill Belichick bridge the gap between NFL and CFB differences in the sport? Mike Watters \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Hiring a new football staff is a big investment for any school<\/a>, making it difficult (and expensive) to move on after just a year. But Belichick\u2019s history of loyalty \u2014 and the circumstances of how he was hired in the first place<\/a> \u2014 have created unique tension in Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

Belichick was hired, effectively, by two members of UNC\u2019s Board of Trustees: then-chairman John Preyer and Jennifer Lloyd \u2014 a potential violation of university bylaws. Multiple sources briefed on the hiring process said their understanding was that, while Cunningham was engaged in his own negotiations, Preyer and Lloyd had already presented Belichick with a preliminary offer to become the Tar Heels\u2019 next head coach \u2014 and a lucrative one, skyrocketing UNC into a financial situation the athletic department never intended to reach.<\/p>\n

Once that genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back in. Belichick is making $10 million a year, double that of his predecessor, Brown, and a top-10 salary nationally (eight of the coaches paid more than Belichick have all made at least one College Football Playoff appearance).<\/p>\n

With staff, revenue share and other pledges of investment, North Carolina\u2019s all-in bet on Belichick comes to roughly $59.3 million.<\/p>\n

The president of the statewide North Carolina education system publicly reprimanded UNC\u2019s Board of Trustees for their meddling weeks after Belichick\u2019s hiring, and temporarily stripped the board of some authority. But Preyer and Lloyd still remain in their positions.<\/p>\n

At Belichick\u2019s introductory news conference<\/a>, Lloyd \u2014 whose son was a walk-on on the football team \u2014 gushed about how UNC landed the NFL great and called it \u201clow risk\u201d because of \u201cthe ownership and responsibility that coach Belichick assumes for his own success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud of Lee Roberts,\u201d she said of the chancellor. \u201cIt would have been easy, I think, to take a different road and just to go for the 40-year-old college coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

(That had been Cunningham\u2019s focus: finding a proven and promising college coach. Multiple university sources reiterated that had North Carolina hired someone like Tulane\u2019s Jon Sumrall, it could\u2019ve invested the money it spent on Belichick\u2019s salary into the roster for this season.)<\/p>\n

How much Belichick values loyalty is shown in his hires. Lombardi is the only staff member with a three-year deal. Belichick\u2019s two sons and Lombardi\u2019s son, Matt, are also on staff.<\/p>\n

Given the on-field struggles, there will clearly be pressure on Belichick to make changes.<\/p>\n

If UNC wanted to move on from Belichick altogether, it would be on the hook for the remaining $20 million it owes him and would also have to buy out Belichick\u2019s staff \u2014 the majority of whom are also on multiple-year, guaranteed contracts that include a pay raise in 2026. North Carolina\u2019s public contracts have not been fully updated, but regardless, it would cost at least another $9.25 million to buy out the rest of Belichick\u2019s coaching staff, plus Lombardi.<\/p>\n

One former staffer under Brown suggested Belichick could move on from Lombardi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat actually would give (Belichick) a f\u2014ing fighting chance,\u201d the former staffer said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Belichick can still salvage his first season, especially given its light ACC schedule. Only one of UNC\u2019s remaining foes, No. 19 Virginia, is currently ranked. Opponents Stanford (Nov. 8) and Wake Forest (Nov. 15) are also rebuilding under first-year coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now they\u2019re just not winning. But we\u2019ve still got seven games left. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cWe might not, but again, if we win out the last seven games and finish 9-3, everybody\u2019s going to be like, \u2018Oh well, I guess I was wrong about this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

But a letter made public has let many fans down. Over UNC\u2019s first open week, following the Sept. 20 loss at UCF, Lombardi sent a long email to UNC donors, obtained by FootballScoop<\/a>, laying out his and Belichick\u2019s long-term rebuilding plan. In it he mentions several prominent coaches \u2014 Mack Brown, Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh \u2014 who had rough first seasons at their schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot an excuse for how we have performed,\u201d he wrote, \u201conly making you aware (that) building a championship team takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan, he said, was to sign upward of 40 high school players in December (\u201cessentially two high school classes in one\u201d) and focus on developing freshmen over time rather than relying primarily on the transfer portal, which he decried as a \u201ccash cow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s their plan, then they\u2019re not taking a step forward, they\u2019re taking a step back,\u201d said one agent. \u201cI don\u2019t care who it is \u2014 Bill Belichick, Jimmy Johnson \u2014 if you don\u2019t use the portal you\u2019re not going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous people interviewed for this story were flabbergasted at the tone of Lombardi\u2019s letter, which essentially said: Be patient. This might take a few years, but we know what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

But in many ways, that\u2019s been the message all along, from the chancellor and the board members who hired him to the 73-year-old first-time college head coach and his loyal GM: He won six Super Bowls, so of course he\u2019ll win here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letter,\u201d one senior school official said, \u201cwasn\u2019t received by our fans as we had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Christopher Kamrani, Grace Raynor, Ralph Russo and Matt Baker contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n