Bill Belichick was always expected to return back to coaching following his brief tenure in sports media. But very few expected him to land in the college ranks at the University of North Carolina, where a fellow sports media personality who will come along with him to Chapel Hill.
Former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi goes back with Belichick all the way to 1987, when he served as the director of player personnel for the Cleveland Browns under Belichick.
Years later, the two would then reunite when Lombardi joined the New England Patriots as an assistant to the coaching staff.
Now, Lombardi holds a number of hats, including hosting The GM Shuffle podcast, serving as host of The Lombardi Line on VSiN, and working as an advisor to the Washington Huskies football program.
However, it seems like a chance to reunite with Belichick, this time in the college ranks, was too enticing for him to turn down. In a statement, VSiN detailed that Lombardi will be leaving the network to become the general manager of the UNC football program.
“I’m excited to join Coach Belichick at North Carolina,” Lombardi said in VSiN’s statement. “Although leaving my VSiN family will be hard, I’m excited to return to helping build a winning program. I’m forever thankful for all the great people at VSiN, especially Bill Adee and the Musburger family.”
It was largely assumed by most that UNC would bring in a general manager to handle some of the intricacies of head coaching in college football nowadays, including behind-the-scenes NIL negotiations for the program. After all, this is something that Belichick has zero experience in.
However, it certainly doesn’t seem like Lombardi would be the ideal candidate for this role on paper.
Much like Belichick, Lombardi brings a lengthy resume of success at the NFL level but lacks much experience at the collegiate level aside from his brief advisory role at Washington. He does notably have three years of experience as a recruiting coordinator at UNLV in the early 1980s. But clearly, a lot has changed within the landscape of college football since then.
Experience in NFL front offices for over two decades certainly helps when it comes to both talent evaluation and some of the logistics in his new role. But it’s at least fair to question if Lombardi, much like Belichick, may have some growing pains jumping into a prominent role at the college game given their collective lack of experience.
[VSiN]
