The Bill Belichick era is off to a messy start at North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 2-3 coming off two blowout losses and things actually sound worse inside the locker room. According to a new report from WRAL, parents and players are growing frustrated by nepotism, preferential treatment of transfers and overall lack of culture in the program, calling it “an unstructured mess” and “a complete disaster.”
WRAL revealed a few very interesting notes about how poorly things are going behind the scenes, starting with parents feeling there is nepotism at play and inexperience on the coaching staff. Via WRAL:
“It’s all starting at the top, and the boys are being affected,” a parent of a current UNC player said under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “I don’t fault the players; I fault the leadership that created this toxic environment. There’s an individualistic mindset. The boys are young, and they are feeding into it.”
Steve Belichick, the defensive coordinator of a unit that has surrendered 72 points in the last two weeks, in particular is very bad with communication.
“He has not talked or had a conversation with most of the guys on defense,” a source said. “They don’t even have his number.”
He’s not alone. Communication with the head coach has also been limited, especially to players who remained from the 2024 team. And North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi isn’t exactly getting rave reveiws either. Via WRAL:
Belichick will say “hi” when he sees players in the building. His GM, Michael Lombardi, has been described by multiple sources as “rude” and “nasty.”
“Nobody likes him,” a source said.
Then there’s the embarassing pettiness with the Patriots, unhappy fans, and constant questions about the level of involvment for the coach’s young girlfriend. Only seven games to go until the new regime tries to turn the program over again with another batch of high school and transfer portal recruits. Though with reports like this that also note that Lombardi tried to rescind one transfer quarterback’s NIL money and the current starting quarterback isn’t making any, it’s hard to imagine the UNC pool of recruits will be very deep.
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