Saturday’s blowout loss to Clemson sparked a tidal wave of reporting regarding the current state of the North Carolina football program under coach Bill Belichick and G.M. Mike Lombardi.
None of it has been flattering.
A new item from TheAthletic.com adds more funk to the sour milk in Chapel Hill. And the key words are arrogance and ignorance.
It’s the worst combination of traits. Believing to know everything when in reality knowing nothing. And that’s the clear takeaway from the new article, which was the product of conversations with more than 20 individuals who spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity.
“It’s the arrogance of it all,” an unnamed UNC source told TheAthletic.com. “Because they had success in the NFL — and by they, I mean Belichick only — they [thought] they could come in and replicate that without knowing how college football works.”
While Lombardi routinely tries to bootstrap himself to Belichick’s NFL excellence, Lombardi’s long career includes only one season as a pro football General Manager, 2013 with the Browns. He was replaced by Ray Farmer in 2014.
At North Carolina, Lombardi sets the table for Belichick. And the current offerings are more like ketchup and egg noodles than a gourmet meal.
An anecdote at the outset of the new article published by TheAthletic.com points to the potential transfer to UNC of North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris for 2025. But Morris lacks NFL measurables. The player Lombardi chose, Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne, had the more prototypical pro size.
“You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,” Lombardi reportedly told staffers regarding his preference for Browne, who transferred to North Carolina but returned to Purdue in the spring. (Morris went to Virginia, and the Cavaliers are now a top-20 team.)
North Carolina, meanwhile, ranks 133rd out of 136 FBS teams in total offense.
And the problem traces to the simple fact that the players Lombardi selected aren’t good enough.
“Initially, they thought people would flock to play for [Belichick] and take less money,” an unnamed university source told TheAthletic.com, “but they realized fast that that wasn’t the case.”
Another source within the program characterized Lombardi’s roster like this: “We don’t have one pro player on the whole roster.”
In all, Belichick and Lombardi brought in more than 70 players. Last week, Lombardi explained in a lengthy message to donors and boosters that the plan for 2026 will be to recruit “upwards of 40 freshmen.” An unnamed senior official at UNC told TheAthletic.com that Lombardi’s letter “wasn’t received by our fans as we had hoped.”
The better (and perhaps only) plan to salvage Belichick’s tenure could be to move on from Lombardi. Multiple sources shared that sentiment with TheAthletic.com. And one former member of the coaching staff under coach Mack Brown said this: “That actually would give [Belichick] a fucking fighting chance.”
For now, it seems like a fat chance that the Tar Heels will turn things around.
