UNC’s Lombardi, on administrative leave, has long been ‘lightning rod’ for controversy, criticism

The last time the University of North Carolina’s  football general manager held the same title — with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns more than a decade ago — his boss described him as a “lightning rod.”

Thirteen years later, and now the highest paid general manager in college football, the description could still fit Michael Lombardi, a longtime confidant of NFL coaching legend and second-year North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick.

UNC placed Lombardi, 67, on paid administrative leave Monday but offered few details on what led to the decision. The New York Times, ESPN and other media outlets reported that the leave is the result of a human resources complaint. The university said “as is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further.”

Lombardi is considered a non-faculty employee who is exempt from the State Human Resources Act. Such employees “may be placed on administrative leave by their supervisor for the duration of an investigation into unsatisfactory job performance or unacceptable personal conduct. The length of the administrative leave will vary based upon the matter under investigation but should not exceed 30 days,” according to the university’s human resources website.

Lombardi hasn’t responded to WRAL’s multiple requests for comment.

The UNC board of trustees meets Wednesday and Thursday in a regularly scheduled meeting. Lombardi’s status could be a topic in closed sessions, though it was not on any agenda as of late Tuesday. 

UNC football opens fall practice Thursday ahead of Belichick’s second season.

‘33rd team’

Criticism of Lombardi has been harsh and persistent since Monday’s announcement, much of it stemming from his performance for the Tar Heels.

“Everything we do here is predicated on building a pro team,” Lombardi said in February 2025 before Belichick had coached a game. 

“We consider ourselves the 33rd team.”

The quote has stuck — and has been used to ridicule the Tar Heel program and the work of Belichick and Lombardi ever since. 

North Carolina went 4-8 in Belichick’s first season. The Tar Heels placed one player on the three All-ACC teams in 2025. Defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude made the second-team. No UNC player was selected in the NFL Draft. Lombardi is the highest-paid general manager in college football at $1.5 million per year.

“He is without question the worst general manager in college sports,” college football writer and commentator Bruce Feldman said on The Audible podcast this week. “He should be getting his paycheck with a ski mask on.”

People close to the program have described Lombardi as rude, nasty and abrasive. But he can be persuasive.

“If he gets in front of the right people, then he will be able to talk somebody into giving them their shirt if they’re freezing cold in the middle of the Arctic,” a former Patriots employee told WRAL on Tuesday. The former employee spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It was Lombardi who first connected Belichick with then-UNC Board of Trustees chairman John Preyer during the hiring process for the head coach. And it was Lombardi who helped convince Preyer of the sincerity of Belichick’s interest in the job. 

Lombardi was Belichick’s first hire and was present at Belichick’s introductory press conference. Even as criticism mounted about the team’s roster and performance last season, Belichick defended his general manager.

“What he’s doing to help our program is monumental,” Belichick said in October. He added: “Our consistency has been here since the day that Michael Lombardi and I came in and started hiring people to come into the organization in December. We got here the same day and we’ve been doing it every day and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

Belichick won six Super Bowl titles as the head coach of the Patriots, and UNC hired him to boost the prestige and profile of its football program. But Belichick, the highest-paid state employee at $10 million annually, had never coached in college before and even though the college game is becoming professionalized in many ways, it is still a different game.

In the NFL, “you have one billionaire who writes every check for every person that's in the building, every player, every staff [member],” the former Patriots employee said. “In college, you have a board of trustees, you have an [athletics director], you have a chancellor, you have a president. Now you have more people — and most importantly, you have all these boosters and everybody that's giving them money. So now you have a group of 40 or 50 people who you have to explain why your process is going to work.”

Lombardi’s only previous collegiate experience before becoming the Tar Heels’ general manager was in the early 1980s at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he served as recruiting coordinator. Lombardi played collegiately at Hofstra on Long Island.

Lombardi worked for several NFL franchises in a career that spanned more than 30 years, including working alongside Belichick in Cleveland and New England. He has also worked in media throughout his career, writing books, hosting podcasts and commentating on the game.

In early 2013, after five years of working as a television commentator, Lombardi was hired as Cleveland’s general manager, a move some were angry about because of his work with Belichick and the franchise. His first press conference was “combative to an almost comical degree,” NFL Daily Host Gregg Rosenthal wrote in 2013.

That led to his boss declaring Lombardi a “lightning rod” and keeping him away from the media.

The Browns went 4-12 in 2013 and fired Lombardi shortly after the season.