Bill Belichick Plays Defense, Disputes Doubts About UNC Football GM

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina coach Bill Belichick played defense on Monday, disputing increasing doubts about general manager Michael Lombardi’s competency amid the growing notion that the two men are presiding over a broken football culture, as the Tar Heels turned the corner into game week for their road assignment at California.

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UNC hasn’t played in nine days, since Clemson’s 38-10 beatdown marked the team’s third blowout loss suffered by 25 points or more already this season. That disaster gave way to last week’s tumultuous open date that became engulfed in turmoil — including wild speculation and sensationalism about Belichick’s job status, the suspension of cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins amid allegations of improper extra benefits, and the churn of the rumor mill running rampant about a Carolina football program reeling in chaos.

While the Tar Heels’ minimal returns thus far on Belichick’s $10 million salary have taken a central place in the discourse, so too has discontent surrounding Lombardi, per a number of sources connected in and around the UNC team. Lombardi’s three-year, $1.5 million deal makes him the highest paid GM across college football.

“I think Michael’s done a great job of keeping the people close to the Carolina program up to date in what we’re doing, what our process is, what our progress is,” Belichick said Monday at Kenan Football Center. “They’ve reached out to help, how they can help, and what the relationships are. How all that comes together. There are a number of things we have going on, and our alumni and our donors and our supporters have been very supportive. … We’re all working together. We’re all learning together. And our team is our team. I like our team. I’m confident in our team. We’ve made a lot of progress right now. Unfortunately, the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that, but I’m very confident that it will show.”

UNC chancellor Lee Roberts, athletic director Bubba Cunningham, AD-in-waiting Steve Newmark and chief revenue officer Rick Barakat were among the audience Monday in the lobby of Kenan Football Center, as Belichick took questions for more than 25½ minutes. Around the room, 14 video cameras from various news outlets were rolling on Belichick.

And so Belichick met the press on Monday, his first public comments since his postgame remarks immediately after the lopsided loss to Clemson, excluding his brief prepared statement measuring 12 words in total that UNC released during the firestorm of last week. Sources have said some of that turbulence has hinged on concerns about a lack of sufficient communication from the top down in the Tar Heels’ power structure, and a general detachedness or aloofness permeating from Belichick and Lombardi.

Have the 73-year-old Belichick and the 65-year-old Lombardi revisited how they’re communicating with players in the UNC program or prospective recruits?

“We talk about it all the time, and we talk to the recruits all the time,” Belichick said Monday in response. “Mike talks to the recruits and their families and their parents on a weekly basis, a daily basis. We talk to the recruits every week. As a staff, we call our recruits, our commits, some other players who are still, let’s say, to some degree not committed. We do that on a regular basis. So not really sure what exactly you’re referring to. We can’t do it full-time because we’re trying to coach the team to get ready for games. But every single week we talk to our commits and other recruits, both in 2026 and 2027, and in some cases the 2028 class.

“I was out this weekend. I saw a number of players, a couple of high school games. Same thing two weekends before, where I saw players who had made commitments to us and other players who were in some state of decision-making, let’s call it. And so we’re all actively doing it. The coaches are active. But as far as the phone calling and communication with our players and our recruits and their parents and their coaches, we do a lot of that. We’ve had numerous kids, I don’t know the exact number, but I’d say over half have been at our three home games this year. And there’s more coming in our subsequent home games that are following here.”

The Tar Heels (2-3 overall, 0-1 ACC) leave for the West Coast on Thursday, ahead of their Friday night matchup against Cal (4-2, 1-1). UNC has opened as a 10½-point underdog against the Golden Bears by the oddsmakers.

UNC has been been buried by a combined margin of 120-33 in its three games this season against opponents from power conferences (TCU, UCF, Clemson). For all of the late-season collapses that plagued  former coach Mack Brown’s previous six seasons in charge, UNC hasn’t failed to qualify for a bowl game since 2018.

Sixth-year offensive lineman Christo Kelly on Monday pointed to Belichick moving his office from the fourth floor to the second floor of Kenan Football Center, in order to be closer to the UNC players in the building.

“So that if there’s anything that we need, anything that we see, he’s there,” Kelly said. “We meet as captains once a week, and I’ve never seen anybody so committed to winning where it’s like, ‘what can we do better? How’s this? How’s that?’ Actively seeking feedback from us of what can we do better. His commitment to winning is unparalleled. And it’s extraordinary impressive, especially coming from a guy like him.”

Kelly, the Holy Cross transfer who in December became the first portal pickup for the Tar Heels under Belichick’s watch, went so far Monday as to use “world class” in describing the coach-to-player lines of communication in the program.

“From the standpoint with Coach Belichick,” Kelly said, “the feedback that he seeks from everybody, we talk about it in all of our meetings every single day. The emphasis is on communication, whether that’s on the field, off the field, and whatever that is. And with Coach Belichick’s and Mr. Lombardi’s emphasis on feedback, it’s ‘how can we improve? How can we get better?’ There’s an open line of communication. Everyone’s focused on winning, committed to winning, and that’s really what we’re looking to keep building on.”

Across the last two games, the Tar Heels have tumbled into deep deficits of 27-3 at UCF and 35-3 against Clemson, before tacking on second-half touchdowns that have proven cosmetic only. Likewise, UNC plummeted behind 41-7 against TCU in its season-opening debacle.

Neither transfer quarterback Gio Lopez nor veteran backup Max Johnson has produced for UNC this season. The Tar Heels are averaging just 263.8 yards game and rank fourth-worst nationally in total offense — No. 131 out of 134 teams on the FBS level — behind only Ball State, Northern Illinois and Massachusetts. And those three teams are a combined 3-15 this season.

UNC checks in nearly 29 yards per game fewer than Wisconsin’s second-worst offense (292.5 yards per game) among power-conference teams. The Tar Heels rank No. 117 nationally out of 134 teams in scoring offense at 18.8 points per game, a number boosted by their 41-6 rout of FCS program Richmond.