The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is
not looking into a possible exit strategy for football coach Bill Belichick, two high-level sources with
the university told WRAL News on Thursday.
While Belichick says he’s ‘fully
committed’ to UNC and the university has backed him,
WRAL has reported on the football
program’s divided locker room.
WRAL looked at the specifics of
Belichick’s contract to examine the university’s options.
Bill Belichick can buy out
his UNC contract for $1 million
Belichick can terminate his deal with UNC if
he pays the university a buyout of $1 million.
It would have cost Belichick
$10 million if he left UNC before June 1, 2025.
UNC would owe Bill Belichick
$30 million total if he’s fired without cause
The first three years of Belichick’s five-year, $50 million
contract are guaranteed.
If UNC decided to fire
Belichick without cause, the university would owe him everything he was set to
earn up until Dec. 31, 2027. Since Belichick’s contract shows he makes $10
million annually, his guaranteed payment is three years for $30 million.
Other buyouts UNC would need
to pay
Belichick’s buyout figure doesn’t represent buyouts
for general manager Mike Lombardi or the UNC coaching staff. Lombardi signed a
three-year, $4.5 million contract in July.
What it means if UNC fired
Bill Belichick for cause
Durham-based civil lawyer J.
Andrew Fine has a background in athlete-related cases. He spoke with WRAL News
on the legal complexities of firing a high-profile coach.
“If they do fire him for cause,
they would need to show that he committed some sort of egregious act or that he
was engaged in behavior that constituted some sort of lack of institutional
control,” Fine said. “So, the lack of institutional control part is what I
think people have been talking about because there are no other grounds
currently to fire him for cause under that contract.”
Fine said firing Belichick for
cause is the only way the university could fire Belichick and not pay him $30
million, unless the two sides reached a settlement.
What does ‘lack of
institutional control’ mean?
WRAL News asked Fine about what
the lack of institutional control means.
“Lack of institutional control
is this sort of moving target that … has been the been the basis for NCAA
violations and penalties in the past,” Fine said. “When the NCAA determines
that a school is doing something that it shouldn’t be doing under the rules,
the school will then be accused of a lack of institutional control.
“And, that
gives way for the NCAA to institute major penalties against a school like
fines, a loss of bowl games, loss of scholarships [and] things like that.”
It
has been 10 years since the NCAA found a lack of institutional control in the
UNC football program. In 2015, the NCAA found that UNC directed
student-athletes to certain courses within the Department of African and
African-American Studies, arranged assignments for those student-athletes and
recommended grades for them.
In response, the university admitted to those allegations, but said the NCAA did not have the authority to issue a penalty for them.
Fine said in many cases, a lack of institutional control
is made up of lesser violations. He mentioned recruiting violations or
situations where players received impermissible benefits.
“In the past, it’s typically
been something that the NCAA will raise as opposed to a school raising it as a
way to get out of a contract,” Fine said.
Fine added, “In Bill
Belichick’s contract, there’s a provision where they can fire him for cause if
there’s a lack of institutional control, and it’s unclear whether that means a
finding of a lack of institutional control by the NCAA or if the school could
simply allege that there has been a lack of institutional control because of
things that are going on around the football program.”
UNC cornerbacks coach
suspended
WRAL Sports’ reporting led UNC to act and have
discussions. It includes the decision to suspend Belichick’s cornerbacks coach
Armond Hawkins for an allegation of improperly
distributing sideline passes for the Oct. 4 game against
Clemson.
On Thursday, Carolina Athletics released a statement about Hawkins’ suspension.
“North Carolina assistant football coach Armond Hawkins has been suspended for violating NCAA rules related to extra benefits,” the statement reads. “He will remain on leave as the Department of Athletics further investigates other potential actions detrimental to the team and university.”
Sources said Hawkins was
not at practice this week and that players were told it was due to quote
“personal business.”
WRAL Sports reached out to
Armond Hawkins on Thursday. While he’s not commenting on the suspension.
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