Report: North Carolina CB coach Armond Hawkins suspended for extra benefits allegations

The hits keep coming for coach Bill Belichick at North Carolina. The latest? The suspension of cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins over allegations related to extra benefits.

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Tuesday night that Hawkins has been suspended by the program. Allegations of extra benefits provided to a player’s family first surfaced in an explosive report from WRAL.

According to one of Feldman’s sources, the alleged extra benefits included providing a player’s family members sideline passes for a game. That is in violation of NCAA rules.

Armando Hawkins arrived at North Carolina to join Belichick’s staff earlier this year. He had previously had a few stints as an off-the-field staffer, but this was his first full assistant role.

Hawkins had previously served as a defensive analyst at Washington in 2024, as a defensive analyst and assistant director of recruiting at Arizona in 2023, as an assistant recruiting coordinator at Colorado in 2022 and as a director of high school relations at USC from 2020-21.

Bill Belichick’s North Carolina program under fire

Off to a 2-3 start to the season, it’s safe to say North Carolina isn’t where it had hoped to be after hiring one of the NFL’s all-time great coaches. The transition has been rough, to say the least.

ESPN personality Paul Finebaum, appearing on ‘First Take’ on Tuesday morning, reacted to Belichick’s start at North Carolina. He said that, for all that he accomplished coaching in the pros, Belichick is on his way right now to being one of the worst coaches in the history of college football, which has Finebaum feeling even some sympathy for him at this point.

“Here’s what I can’t get over. I mean, we’re talking about Bill Belichick, who is the greatest NFL coach in history? Right now, he’s working toward being the worst coach in college football history. That’s how bad he is,” said Finebaum. “There’s nothing to be happy about. I mean, it’s an abject disaster. I feel badly for the guy because it seemed like a good idea at the time. But, right now? I mean, who in their right mind would want to go play for him?”

Belichick is 2-3 so far as head coach of the Tar Heels. However, UNC has won its games only against Group of Five programs at Charlotte and against Richmond, while it has been blown out and looked overmatched in all three of its games against power conference teams in TCU, UCF, and Clemson. The Horned Frogs, Knights, and Tigers have almost quadrupled North Carolina up by beating the Tar Heels by a combined score of 120-33, or by an average margin of 29 points per loss.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this report.