Bill Belichick is 4-8 as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
His supporters would remind you that he has eight total Super Bowl rings in his trophy case, with six of those coming as head coach of the New England Patriots — one of the greatest sports dynasties of all-time.
Belichick’s detractors would point out that he had zero experience coaching or recruiting at the college level, and he was never known to have the type of temperament that one needs to navigate the NIL and transfer portal era.
That plus the 4-8 start to his tenure is reason enough to doubt whether or not Belichick can turn things around with the Tar Heels.
Throw in the fact that his general manager and long-time friend, Mike Lombardi, was just placed on paid administrative leave pending an HR investigation just weeks before the season, and some may start wondering if Belichick can really do this at the college level.
UNC didn’t announce any details as to why Lombardi is being placed on leave, but long-time sportswriter Dan Wetzel of ESPN made a good point.
“The focus and scope of the Lombardi investigation are unknown. It might be serious. It might be an exoneration. Generally, putting a highly paid, high-profile employee on leave, a move sure to generate negative attention, isn’t done lightly,” Wetzel wrote on Monday.
Could Bill Belichick already be on thin ice at North Carolina?
In an opinion piece that was extremely critical of Belichick and his early tenure with the Tar Heels, Wetzel brought up everything from the head coach’s lack of college experience, not to mention Lombardi’s, to Jordon Hudson’s shadow seemingly looming over everything in Chapel Hill.
Hudson, 25, is Belichick’s girlfriend. Belichick is 74-years old.
“The big debate around Carolina football is about what has proved more embarrassing thus far: the on-field losses or the off-field soap opera?” Wetzel wrote.
One would imagine that Belichick’s championship reputation will earn him the opportunity to at least play out the 2026 season. The Tar Heels recently fired basketball coach Hubert Davis, who was the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year and Roy Williams’ hand-picked successor, though, so Belichick is going to have to start winning some real games sooner rather than later.
North Carolina’s first four games feature TCU, East Tennessee, Clemson and Notre Dame. One of those things is not like the other, and it stands to reason that UNC could realistically start this season 1-3. An 0-4 start would be an unprecedented disaster, but at this point, anything could happen.
Either way, Belichick needs to turn things around.
“To say patience is wearing thin at UNC is an understatement,” wrote Weetzel.
