On July 27, North Carolina suspended college football's highest-paid general manager, Michael Lombardi, from his post, citing an HR investigation. He was head coach Bill Belichick's handpicked GM and his initial hire. The GM role has been handled effectively by Belichick, according to sources with knowledge of the program's management structure since then (Lombardi officially resigned in early September).
But that will change soon, as the search for a general manager eventually comes to a close. The Tar Heels sit at 4-3 with two close losses. Those around the program acknowledge that the team has improved.
A bowl game is highly likely but not guaranteed; however, the Tar Heels did not hire an eight-time Super Bowl champion to scrape by to .500, as the program has been almost exactly that since 2000 (165-167). UNC's 2027 recruiting class currently has 16 commitments, which is not an abnormal number at this point in the cycle, and a new GM is expected to be tasked with navigating the transfer portal, which officially opens in January, and retaining the current roster. Former Michigan GM Sean Magee is consulting with the football program as his firm, TurnkeyZRG, leads the search for a permanent GM.
That GM is not expected to be in place before the end of the regular season, according to a source with knowledge of the search process. There is a chance that UNC will adopt a model in which the GM reports to athletic director Steve Newmark and to Belichick. Lombardi reported solely to Belichick, according to a copy of his original employment letter obtained by CBS Sports.
The model is en vogue in college football as a wave of professionalization sweeps across the sport. It is notably different from how Belichick handled business for years in the NFL when he served as what the league defined as the "primary football executive" for the New England Patriots, essentially meaning he was the de facto general manager, although he did not formally hold the title with the team. In 2024, when Belichick was in the mix for the Atlanta Falcons job, team owner Arthur Blank squashed the notion that Belichick would want to be the team's GM, saying that in a text, Belichick had conveyed he was willing to work with then-GM Terry Fontenot.
The NFL had long since moved away from the model of the head coach as the primary roster decision-maker, and Belichick was among the last of that dying breed with New England. As the amount of money on college football rosters increases (Belichick's contract guarantees at least $20 million in roster spending), the need for a GM to have some autonomy becomes more important. UNC has an opportunity to continue a growing trend.
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