University of North Carolina football general manager, Michael Lombardi, has abruptly been placed on administrative leave.
“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has placed Michael Lombardi, general manager for the Carolina football program, on paid administrative leave, effective immediately,” the school said in a statement obtained by Us on Monday, July 27. “As is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further, and [have] no reflection on the merits.”
No other details about the decision were made available. When reached for comment, the athletic department referred back to the university’s statement.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the move “stems from an human resources complaint filed by a former UNC front office employee. There’s a pending investigation, which led to the administrative leave.”
Lombardi, 67, joined his former New England Patriots colleague Bill Belichick after he was named head coach in Chapel Hill in December 2024.
From 2014 to 2016, Lombardi worked as an assistant to the coaching staff in New England. Prior to that, he held various front office jobs with the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders.
Lombardi is the nation’s highest-paid collegiate general manager, earning $1.5 million annually. His son, Matt, is currently the quarterbacks coach at North Carolina.
Shortly after Lombardi left the Patriots staff in June 2016, Belichick called him “one of the smartest people I know.”
“He was a huge asset to me for the two years he was here,” Belichick said at a November 2016 press conference. “So Mike’s a smart guy and he studies football and he knows it very well.”
Belichick signed a five-year, $50 million contract to coach the Tar Heels, which was officially announced in January 2025.
Despite the hype, Belichick’s first season in Chapel Hill was largely a disaster. The Tar Heels finished 4-8, winning only two games in the ACC and tying for second-to-last in the conference.
Earlier this month, Belichick expressed optimism about his second season at North Carolina.
“Look, I learn every year, I learn things every day,” Belichick told reporters at ACC media days on July 17. “Every week is a learning experience for me. Try to listen to the people that are around me that work for us, that do various things, whether it’s academics, training, nutrition, offense, defense, special teams, so forth. Try to do the best I can to help put it all together.”
He added, “This time a year ago, we didn’t have a quarterback who had taken a snap even in spring ball for us. Last year we didn’t have any player-run practices. We couldn’t actually line up a team and run against another team without the coaches being out there because we didn’t have anybody that knew enough on either side of the ball to do that. Whereas this year these guys have done it all spring and all summer.”
North Carolina opens the 2026 season on August 29 against TCU in Dublin.
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