North Carolina Tar Heels football director Michael Lombardi doubled down on the position that Bill Belichick has no intention of leaving the program for the NFL.
Belichick was rumored to be interested in a pair of NFL jobs that opened up weeks after he decided to jump to the collegiate ranks for the first time in his career. Belichick replaced Mack Brown as head coach at North Carolina after decades with the New England Patriots.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
New North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick speaks to the media at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Photos)
Lombardi, who joined Belichick at the program, had expressed several times that Belichick would not leave the Tar Heels. He made the proclamation again in an interview Monday on OutKick’s “The Ricky Cobb Show.”
“I think one thing everyone could agree on, whether you’re a fan of what Bill did in New England or you were a hater because he beat you in New England, the one thing we all can agree on is that Bill is really smart.” he said. “Bill knows the landscape of the NFL better than most fans do. And if Bill thought there was a job out there that beckoned him, he wouldn’t have moved to North Carolina.
“He wasn’t looking for a job. He wasn’t collecting unemployment. He wasn’t hoping that somebody would hire him. He knew there were great opportunities if he wanted to get into the NFL. What we also knew was the NFL is a slippery slope in the sense that there’s a lot of politics going on. You’re responding to a lot of different people, there’s an agenda within buildings.”
Lombardi used a line from one of the greatest NFL head coaches of all time to describe why Belichick would not return to the NFL.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick speaks to the media during a news conference at Gillette Stadium on January 11, 2024 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
DALLAS COWBOYS NEXT HEAD COACH ODDS: WHO WILL REPLACE MIKE MCCARTHY?
“Bill Walsh told me in 1984, when there were 28 teams in the National Football League, ‘You know we’re only competing against eight teams here boy.’ He was right then and he’s right today,” he said. “And I think that line right there sums up why Bill is at North Carolina. Not every team is built to win.
“Not every team is chasing the Super Bowl. Not every team wants to do that. They want to win their way, not the right way. I think that’s why North Carolina became so appealing to him, because we can build a program here right way.”
Belichick’s boyfriend, Jordon Hudson, also maintained that the 72-year-old head coach would stay in Carolina blue.
“Pictured: two people who are obviously committed to @uncfootball,” she captioned an Instagram photo.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before a game against the Atlanta Falcons at NRG Stadium. (Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Belichick has been on the recruiting trail in recent weeks and landed a top defensive transfer earlier this month.
