Report: North Carolina being sued over hiring process of Bill Belichick, conference realignment

The University of North Carolina is reportedly being sued over the hiring process of head coach Bill Belichick, according to a report from Front Office Sports. The lawsuit alleges the school and its board of trustees broke state laws to hide discussions about Belichick, as well as conversations about potential conference realignment.

The lawsuit was filed by former university provost Chris Clemens. As FOS‘ Amanda Christovich detailed, the lawsuit is not solely about Belichick’s hiring or UNC’s conference realignment talks. It centers around “alleged wrongdoing against Clemens, who argues that the board engaged in an effort to ‘punish him for leaking closed-session information’ to other faculty members regarding a meeting about tenure and that he was asked to resign as a result—which he did, effective May 16.”

Clemens alleged three instances related to the North Carolina athletic department and said it demonstrated a “systematic misuse of closed sessions to hide policy debates from public view,” per the report. He also alleged that an illegal meeting took place on December 12, 2024 and was conducted as a closed session to discuss and approve the hiring of Belichick as the new football head coach. Belichick was later approved as the hire in a public vote.

Belichick isn’t the only part of the lawsuit per the report. Clemens alleged in the suit that in November of 2023, the board entered a different closed session to compared finances of membership within the ACC compared to the Big Ten or SEC. This is where the conference realignment portion factors in.

The board later, reportedly, convened behind closed doors to debate realignment strategy in May of 2024. The complaint read as follows: “Each episode follows the same pattern: the Board invokes a statutory exemption, enters closed session, then discusses broad policy or budget matters that must be debated publicly. The Board compounds these violations by maintaining inadequate general accounts that prevent public understanding of what transpired.”

In regards to Belichick’s hiring, conference realignment and the lawsuit in general, UNC board of trustees chair Malcolm Turner released a statement. He spoke to FOS.

“(The allegations are) disappointing and inaccurate, not to mention a waste of taxpayer dollars, for which this former officer of the University shows no regard,” Turner said in a statement. The entire lawsuit document can be read HERE.

As far as North Carolina football is concerned, Belichick and the Tar Heels are 2-2 this season, coming off a 34-9 loss to UCF. The team is back in action on October 4th at home at 12:00 p.m. ET vs. Clemson.