Bill Belichick appears to be getting the gang back together in Chapel Hill.
Belichick has officially been named the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina and will be formally introduced on Thursday afternoon. The 72-year-old coaching legend now faces the task of deciding which familiar faces will join him in the Research Triangle — and which ones won’t.
In the immediate fallout, we know that Michael Lombardi will be one of the puzzle pieces in place, as the now-former VSiN host will serve as Belichick’s general manager. In announcing the move Wednesday, Lombardi also gave VSiN the inside scoop on the decision that sent shockwaves throughout sports media this week.
New GM of the University of North Carolina football program @mlombardiNFL talks about how the move with Head Coach Bill Belichick came together and their immediate challenges.
Hear the entire conversation on demand with the FREE VSiN Watch App: https://t.co/kcvBdhtvfT pic.twitter.com/FUesFaqZrm
— VSiN (@VSiNLive) December 12, 2024
“This came together because Bill wanted to go back to college,” explained Lombardi. “I think, if you read the David Halberstam book, ‘Education of a Coach,’ Halberstam predicted that one day Belichick would go back to college football because he values teaching so much. And I think the landscape of college football has changed dramatically in the sense that it is pay-for-play; you have to evaluate the players on the roster, you’ve got to put a dollar sign on the player, and you’ve got to be able to motivate a coach within the framework of monetary compensation.”
Lombardi’s relationship with Belichick dates back to their days together in Cleveland. So when Belichick decided to take on this new challenge and asked the 65-year-old Lombardi to join him, the longtime NFL executive — now a media personality and frequent guest on The Pat McAfee Show and The Bill Simmons Podcast — thought to himself: Why not?
“This was the perfect time; the perfect setting for my wife and I to go back down there and enjoy college football in the most incredible, incredible little town that is going to be a football town in the future,” Lombardi said.
But how will Lombardi’s role in Chapel Hill differ from his time in the NFL, where he wore multiple hats in the front office and later served as an assistant to the coaching staff in New England?
“Not much. I think we’re going to build a pro-personnel department, and that pro-personnel department really will be the transfer portal,” he said. “So, that will be what we build there to monitor all the college teams, whether it’s in the ACC, the Big Ten, the Southeastern Conference, or any conference… the new Pac-12. So, you have to monitor all the players, just like you would in pro football.
“And then, obviously, you’ll have a Director of College Scouting, but that guy will be the director of all the high school scouting and monitor the high schools. North Carolina has a great fanbase. They have a tremendous recruiting area in the Tidewater area in Virginia. They haven’t been to Florida as much in recent years, but there has been a time where they were very good in that state.
“We’re trying to expand it to a national program, which it should be. When you mention North Carolina, that brand is significant. It may be associated with basketball, but we’re going to bring that brand down on the national level. We’ve had two quarterbacks drafted in the first round, Mitchell Trubisky and Drake Maye. And so, it has appealed to quarterbacks, and we’re going to continue that, along with having a pro-style offense.”
Lombardi believes the job will “pretty much” remain the same, just with a different title. He explained that it would still be a 24/7 commitment, but the structure would be different. There’s no draft to manage, and while there are deadlines related to the transfer portal, he emphasized that they can work around those.
And Lombardi’s decision to join Belichick in Chapel Hill was also rooted in nostalgia.
“Well, I think a lot of it has to do with North Carolina,” he continued. “I think when you look at the school — and it goes back to 1992 — it’s ironic how things they turnover, right? In 1992, we were on the campus in North Carolina. It was cold in Cleveland. We were getting ready for the draft, and we went down there because you’re in that Research Triangle, where you have about five different schools that you can scout.
“So, we went down there, and we stayed at the Carolina Inn, which is right on campus. We brought Jim Schwartz, one of our scouting assistants, who’s now the defensive coordinator of the Browns. We set up a little office down there; we watched tape; we went for a jog; we went to a baseball game. And we both looked at each other — and this is 1992 — and we said, ‘How the hell can’t they win here?’…
“That’s a true story. That is really what sparked this. You’re on that campus, and you look around, and you say, ‘How can’t they win here?’ And I’m not saying Mack Brown didn’t win, but I’m talking about winning at a level to get to this 12-team Playoff.”
Brian Baldinger certainly thinks Belichick can win the ACC and, in turn, make the College Football Playoff, but Carolina fans have heard bold promises before. Turning a basketball school into a football powerhouse won’t happen overnight, even with Belichick’s legendary résumé
[VSiN]
