RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesNorth Carolina's decision to place general manager Michael Lombardi on paid administrative leave has intensified scrutiny of Bill Belichick's first year in Chapel Hill, with national analysts calling Lombardi's tenure one of the biggest failures of the Tar Heels ' new era.
The move, which Pete Nakos reported was made by the North Carolina administration rather than Belichick, follows a disappointing 4-8 season in 2025. Lombardi, Belichick's first hire after taking over the program in December 2024, faced mounting criticism for UNC's roster construction and personnel decisions.
On The Audible podcast , The Athletic 's Bruce Feldman and Ralph Russo delivered a scathing assessment of Lombardi's performance.
"He is, without question, the worst general manager in college sports. Also the highest paid. It's not even close," Feldman said.
Russo argued Lombardi failed to justify his $1.5 million annual salary while overseeing an offense that ranked outside the top 100 nationally in six major statistical categories, including scoring offense at 19.3 points per game (118th nationally).
"He should be getting his paycheck with a ski mask on," Russo said. "I'm sorry. He, like, this is such a staggering amount of ineptitude in the job he's had for Bill Belichick, right? And, you know, I go back to this—the big story we did last year, and he was a focal point of it. It's the arrogance. It's the abrasiveness. I mean, there's a lot of qualities that have rubbed people the wrong way for a long time, but Bill Belichick has been one of the people who has been in his corner, and always. And the fact that Bill Belichick trusted him to have the most important job of anybody he could hire, and it has blown up in his face and North Carolina's face spectacularly, right? And so we got to this point where—remember they made this pivot after a fiasco of a year one where they win 4 games, which for North Carolina they're never that bad, but they were last year. So they pivoted from going all in in the portal, which almost everybody does, and now they go to high school recruits, and now they've taken 2 steps back, or maybe 3. And now we get this latest news, which honestly, it's surprising, but it probably shouldn't be, given Lombardi's track record."
Feldman also placed responsibility on Belichick for standing by one of his closest longtime associates.
"I would just say, like, of all the moves that Belichick and North Carolina football made, this was the, you know, like, he was the move more so than the offensive coordinator or whatever else that he should have realized, this ain't working," Feldman said. "This isn't the NFL. This is not working. This has been a disaster. I got a reboot here. He didn't. And I think it's just another, like, it's a little more egg on the face of North Carolina and the people who shoehorn Bill Belichick in there. And a little egg on the face of Bill. Like, I don't want to remove any culpability here and responsibility from Belichick. I mean, this is his guy. He made this move. You have to own that."
The university announced Lombardi's leave without giving further details, saying leadership, staff, and student-athletes were not allowed to discuss the personnel matter. The statement came from UNC Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing Dean Stoyer, not the athletic department.
Lombardi was Belichick's first hire after he accepted North Carolina's head coaching job in December 2024. The two had previously worked together during Belichick's tenure as head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95, then reunited with the New England Patriots from 2014-16 and won two Super Bowls.
Before joining North Carolina, Lombardi spent more than three decades in the NFL with the Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Browns. When North Carolina hired him, his $1.5 million annual salary made him the highest-paid general manager in college football.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC’s Michael Lombardi faces evisceration from national analysts
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