Greg: Lee Roberts’ Embrace of UNC Athletics in Uncertain Times

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Construction is a constant on college campuses, as universities strive to refresh the old and build new to keep up with the demands of tens of thousands of students and employees. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is no exception. South Building, which faces the Old Well on the north side and Polk Place to the south, began construction in 1789. As the years pass, time plays a harsh hand on these historic buildings that is impossible to withstand without renovation and repair. As such, South Building is currently besieged by scaffolding as work is done to replace the roof with copper panels.

Maneuver around the construction to the south side of the building, and upon entry, it becomes clear that its bones are still strong and that there’s an old-school charm in the small rooms that connect in front of the chancellor’s office. It’s been a full year since Lee Roberts was officially named the university’s 13^th chancellor, that announcement coming eight months after he stepped into the interim role with a resume built in finance and limited experience in academia.

There’s an abundance of work for a chancellor to manage at a university of UNC’s stature, and through the lineage of chancellors that came before Roberts, most worked their way up through the academic ranks, therefore their interests rested in matters of education. For decades, UNC athletics operated within its own silo, responsible for managing rigorous academic standards, NCAA compliance and its financial solvency. That dichotomy has softened in recent years, which has been a welcome change for athletic department staff, boosters and fans as money has flooded into intercollegiate athletics, which has led to sweeping changes in the form of revenue sharing, NIL and billion-dollar media deals.

Roberts has brought a unique business perspective to the chancellor’s office, unlike any of his predecessors, and that has proven especially beneficial for an athletic department that is lauded for its 52 NCAA team national championships and its broad support of 28 varsity sports yet is facing an uncertain future as the college landscape has been upended. It’s not the Carolina blue paint on the walls of Roberts’ office that grabs the eye, but rather the UNC football helmet on his fireplace mantle, as well as other Carolina athletics paraphernalia scattered about.

“I always come back to Dean Smith’s formulation of athletics as the front porch of the university, and it’s arguably the most visible thing we do,” Roberts told Inside Carolina in an interview last week. “It’s a way of attracting people to learn more about Carolina, and then they come in the house and see all the wonderful things that are going on. It’s important for affinity among our alumni.”

Roberts stressed the importance of not letting the tail wag the dog – the university’s all-funds budget for fiscal year 2024-25 was $4.2 billion, which was roughly 28 times greater than the athletic department’s budget – while noting the bond that athletics weaves throughout the alumni base, regardless of background, age and location. He is saying all the right things, but more importantly for Carolina athletics, his level of involvement has been unprecedented.  

John Preyer, the outgoing chairman of UNC’s Board of Trustees, recently credited Roberts for getting the Bill Belichick hire across the finish line. He reignited the Smith Center renovation/replacement conversation that had sat on the back burner for a decade, and he went to bat for the football program during a UNC Faculty Council meeting in January. Roberts has been an active participant in conference matters, according to multiple sources, and put in place a transition plan that will have former NASCAR executive Steve Newmark step into the athletic director’s role next year.

There’s also the matter of direct institutional support for the athletic department in recent years, which had been a rarity in the past. The university provided $14 million in institutional support during the 2023-24 fiscal year, which was critical in supplementing athletic department revenue to offset $155.9 million in total operating expenses. The intention is for the direct support to be temporary as a bridge to long-term financial stability for all 28 sports.

 “The direct support has increased absolutely because of the increased cost of having a top-tier intercollegiate athletics program,” Roberts said. “It’s important to recognize sometimes that gets mischaracterized as support for football. Football pays for itself. It’s one of the few things we do around here that we ask it to pay for itself. But given the additional money that we need to invest in football in the current era, it’s harder for football to support all our other sports, and that’s what the transfer is for.”

Roberts downplayed the significance of his involvement in athletics. He was quick to praise longtime athletic director Bubba Cunningham as one of the most experienced and respected athletic directors in the country, while stating that he believes the 63-year-old has done “a terrific job.” He also credited Cunningham for a strong 2024-25 academic year in which the athletic department hired Belichick, football general manager Michael Lombardi, and general managers in three other sports, in addition to the arrival of chief revenue officer Rick Barakat.

“I, in no way, have nor intend to micromanage the athletics department,” Roberts said. “At the same time, we’ve had, I think, just by fate, since I became chancellor, a number of strategic decisions to make within Carolina athletics and within college sports more broadly. It’s been an exceptionally unusual time with the ACC litigation, the renewal of the ACC television contract, the agreement and implementation of the House settlement. I don’t really know whether I have a different style than my predecessors, but it’s clear that there have been some dynamics underway in college athletics that I think have been unusual.”

Roberts talked at length about Carolina’s history and tradition in college athletics, how the Tar Heels have been playing football since 1888 and playing at Kenan Stadium for nearly 100 years, and how the men’s basketball program is unmatched in its national standing. The challenge, he said, is in finding a way to honor and uphold those established pillars while continuing to innovate and match the times and the uncertainty that persists in college athletics.

“Coach Smith is a perfect example of what I’m talking about,” Roberts said. “Coach Smith believed deeply in the history and tradition and legacy of Carolina Basketball, and he also was highly adaptive and responsive to changing circumstances, whether that was the Four Corners offense or racial integration in college basketball. I was privileged to meet with Charlie Scott here just [last week] in this office, our first black scholarship player. That was Coach Smith, and he deserves credit for seeing how the world was changing and making sure that Carolina stayed on offense. And that’s what all of us who are privileged to be asked to serve in these roles have the responsibility of doing for Carolina.”

As our interview concluded, the sounds of construction beyond South Building’s walls continued. This is not the first time the roof has been replaced. Historical records indicate a new tin roof was added roughly 185 years ago. And should this institution maintain its current trajectory as arguably the nation’s top public university, there will be a need for another roof replacement in the decades to come. What matters most is a proactive approach to make sure unnecessary damage, due to neglect or indifference, doesn’t occur to the historical significance that resides within. 

Roberts appears to have a secure grasp of the essence of Carolina athletics, its place in this ever-changing intercollegiate landscape and its importance to the UNC alumni base. Change is difficult, but in college sports, there is no alternative. Preserving the past requires an embrace of the future.