UNC brass and big donors have now agreed that Bill Belichick can coach out the rest of this season and then they will meet to discuss the future. God forbid some who were in those initial meetings will be allowed in these.
Are these people, who have already pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to football, willing to risk yet another dysfunctional season and continue being a negative non-stop national story? Belichick was already among the most publicized (and despised) coaches from both his success and scandals in the NFL before setting a foot onto the grass at Kenan Stadium. How his team has performed during its first five games is not going to dim the spotlight.
Before it carried the lame one-sentence statements from Belichick and Bubba Cunningham trying to project that everything is hunky-dory, The Athletic published a well-researched exposé Friday morning that took three reporters and 20 insiders to talk anonymously and protect their jobs.
The story uncovered so much chaos that Belichick needs to be fired now and not waste any more of UNC’s precious time, if not money. It verifies three-year guaranteed contracts of $30 million for him and $4.5 million for general manager Mike Lombardi, much of which may be contestable due to the UNC policies, NCAA rules and promises they might have broken. The Athletic also painted Lombardi with an inconsistent brush, as he has told staffers, “You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League.” Yes, he worked for Belichick in Cleveland and New England — but the last time he worked in college football was as a recruiting coordinator at UNLV in 1981-84, more than 40 years ago.
With their football careers in jeopardy and that kind of jack on the line, of course they won’t leave on their own and will keep forcing this B.S. down our throats. They should be fired because their game plan for at least maintaining the program they inherited from Mack Brown was so fatally flawed that it subjected the university to untold embarrassment. They have pivoted from foolishly calling the Tar Heels of little talent the “33rd NFL team” to emailing donors about their “rebuilding” job that would take another year or two.
Carolina thought it was opening its coffers to buy a championship coach, not a grifter who wasn’t offered another NFL job and has made UNC a laughingstock that could last indefinitely if the university does not move in a different direction right now. They are already proven clueless to “building” a college program in the new era, and these phonies continuing down this path will only worsen the toxic atmosphere. Their hubris hoodwinked trustees John Preyer and Jennifer Lloyd, who know next to nothing about running a football program but reportedly took the lead on negotiating with Belichick.
North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick walks off the field after losing to Clemson on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The 38-10 loss dropped UNC to 2-3 on the season, with their lone wins coming against non-power conference teams. (Photo via AP Photo/Chris Seward.)
Belichick and Lombardi inherited some of Mack Brown’s players who had nowhere to go. They also took leftovers from the transfer portal while hurriedly hiring a staff of assistant coaches that included three of their sons, who are also guaranteed six-to-seven figures for another season.
The Hoodie is banking on his new 2026 recruiting class of 36 freshmen, which is ranked 17th in the country because it has more commits than any other school. But there is no guarantee they all eventually sign with UNC, especially when other coaches start talking trash and try to poach the best of them. Most of the new freshmen have to be developed to play college football, essentially replacing those in the current freshman class, some of whom will likely explore transferring. So where will the improvement be next year?
It should come from the portal, which Belichick kind of blew off in his last press conference by saying, “We have no idea who will be in the portal.” Every other major college coaching staff knows what players might or will be in the portal because they have been evaluating their potential for a year and already know how much revenue to share. Belichick’s way very well could leave UNC behind in evaluating players and lead to mistakes like this year.
One of those gaffs was signing mid-major quarterback Gio Lopez for $2 million a season after passing on Chandler Morris, who expressed interest in playing for Belichick according to The Athletic. He had thrown 31 touchdowns passes at North Texas and, since being spurned by the UNC staff, has led Virginia to a national ranking the Cavaliers will bring into Kenan Stadium on October 24.
The notion was that Belichick’s six Super Bowl championships with Tom Brady from 2001-2018 carried such gravitas that recruits would flock to play for him. If that was ever true, it is no more.
There are other reasons Belichick is unpopular with some parents than his aloofness and unpredictable behavior inside the program. Most college players with no chance of getting on the field still covet dressing in full uniform for games, a reward for their grunt work during practice or success in the classroom. Belichick runs it more like the NFL, where only 53 dress out.
That is not the only reason creating division in the locker room. WRAL reported some players are getting paid much more than others, tickets are being sold illegally, and an assistant coach was suspended for providing high-profile sideline passes for families, which is not allowed by the NCAA.
Is all this worth $10 million a year? USA Today ran a story Friday about the extravagant contracts college coaches receive, picturing Belichick. He has gotten closer to national media during his off-season, appearing often on sports talk and interview shows. Weirdly, it appears he called host Kirk Herbstreit while ESPN’s College GameDay was broadcasting live Saturday morning. As a panel of entertainers more than journalists, the surprise call led them to awkwardly defend Belichick.
“He has completely bought into what is happening with his team and program for him to leave,” Herbstreit said carefully and perhaps unknowingly. “From everything that I have understood and talking with coach inside the building, the recruits are staying put. They are not going anywhere.
“The vibe, energy and buy-in in the building is quite a contrast to the noise and speculation and some narratives on the outside. At the end of the day, like the NFL, you build your program through the draft, you sprinkle in free agency.”
Herbstreit knows there is no “draft” in college football and recruiting high school kids is clearly passé. “Free agency” is the transfer portal that Belichick and Lombardi have yet to figure out and are now backpedaling over. And unlike the NFL, which has professional-level contracts, these college athletes can enter and re-enter the transfer portal seemingly whenever they choose.
These broadcasting buddies are covering for their infamous friend, having seen social media speculation and irrefutable reporting like in The Athletic to create stumbling support. They hightailed it out of Chapel Hill after the over-hyped and underwhelming Labor Day blowout by TCU and understandably have not been back since. The GameDay broadcast flashed a far more truthful banner saying – CAROLINA BLUES – what the failing experiment has left with us.
That was surely a sign of things to come, and the Tar Heels winning a couple of games down the stretch won’t fix that Belichick and Lombardi have proven to be bad actors and unfit to lead the UNC football program.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
