A month on leave, then a resignation
Michael Lombardi resigned as North Carolina’s football general manager on Thursday, more than a month after the university placed him on paid administrative leave. He had not been with the team during fall camp and did not travel with the squad for its opening-week game in Ireland.
His statement was four lines long. “I want to thank Chancellor (Lee) Roberts and Bill Belichick for the opportunity to serve as the GM of UNC Football,” Lombardi said. “I have decided it’s best for me to resign my position as GM to allow the team to focus on the ’26 season.”
North Carolina made clear the departure settles nothing on its end. The university said its “ongoing investigation” into allegations against Lombardi continues and that it will “consider all appropriate corrective actions responsive to the information it learns.” Reports before Thursday indicated the matter began with a human resources complaint filed by a former front-office employee. WRAL News reported the same day that lawyers hired by the university have widened the scope of their questioning well beyond Lombardi himself.
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The most expensive job of its kind in college football
Lombardi arrived in Chapel Hill in December 2024 on a $1.5 million salary, which made him the highest-paid general manager in college football at the time. The number was the point. Belichick was building a professional front office inside a college programme, and Lombardi, 67, was the piece meant to run it.
The two had worked together in New England from 2014 to 2016. Before that Lombardi had been general manager and vice president of the Cleveland Browns in 2013, following spells in the front offices of Denver, the then-Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia.
Two holes in the same staff
Belichick said last month that he and his assistants would cover Lombardi’s responsibilities while he was away. That arrangement now becomes permanent. North Carolina are running a similar committee approach on defence, with coordinator Steve Belichick on medical leave since August.
The team itself has started better than the surroundings suggest. North Carolina went 4-8 last season and opened this one by beating TCU 15-10 on Aug. 29. Whether that holds while the university works through an investigation it has promised to finish is the question hanging over Chapel Hill.
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