North Carolina places football GM Michael Lombardi on paid administrative leave
North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave.
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The school announced the move with a statement Monday morning, coming days before the Tar Heels open preseason camp. The school didn’t provide details as to the reason, noting that employees and athletes aren’t permitted to address the topic “as is standard procedure with personnel matters.”
ESPN reported the leave is connected to a human resources complaint filed by a former Carolina front office employee, and that there is an pending investigation.
Lombardi joined Bill Belichick in making the NFL-to-college move when the school hired the former Patriots coach in December 2024. Lombardi’s career as an NFL executive included serving as GM of the Browns in 2013, and he was an immediate hire by the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach in Chapel Hill.
Lombardi was an assistant to the coaching staff with the Patriots from 2014-16 and served as director of player personnel with the Browns under Belichick from 1993-95.
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North Carolina hired Belichick to jolt a football program that had largely been an Atlantic Coast Conference also-ran while making periodic, but unsustained, climbs into national relevance.
A few months into Belichick’s tenure, Lombardi said the goal was running a college program in a way similar to the NFL, saying the Tar Heels “consider ourselves the 33rd [NFL] team” due to the staff connections to the pros.
The Tar Heels went just 4-8 in Belichick’s first season. They open his second against TCU in Dublin on Aug. 29.
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