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A lawsuit has accused the University of North Carolina and its board of directors of illegally hiring head football coach Bill Belichick behind closed doors in December.
Former UNC Provost Chris Clemens and lawyer David McKenzie filed the trial in the Orange County Superior Court, and it claims that Belichick’s employment is one of many cases where closed sessions took place at the public university.
The trial points to an alleged “pattern and practice” on UNC to hide “Questions of serious public concern behind closed doors.” One of these questions includes potential conference meter.
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North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick looks from the sidelines during the first half of a NCAA football match against Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, September 6. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Clemens also claims that he was punished for “leaking information about closed session” to faculty members about a meeting with the postponement of hiring such as the trial’s main topic.
“As the executive principal and provost, [Clemens] informed deans and principal internally about the board’s employment policy attitude after a closed session so that they could control the faculty’s expectations, “reads the trial.” The Board’s subsequent efforts to punish him for ‘leaking’ information about closed session emphasizes only the culture of culture in violation of the open meetings law and public registration law. “
As for Belichick’s employment, the trial claims that “substantial consideration took place in secret” on December 12, 2024 at a emergency meeting. The lawsuit accuses that since Belichick’s “compensation package and whole employment was already public”, there was no need for the closed session.
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“The Board of Directors did not present any comparable thirty-year-old ‘Net Prescent Cost’ analysis, nor did it call for Langhoret fiscal restraint to postpone this decision to a single UNC employee,” the trial states after spelling Belichick’s compensation for joining Tar Heels.
Athletics in addition to football were used as examples in the trial, including an alleged closed session in November 2023 to discuss a potential UNC’s ACC adaptation, comparing it to “potential financial results with SEC or BIG TEN membership.”
The trial claims that a closed session was completed in the conference in May 2024.
North Carolina Tar Heels new head coach Bill Belichick talks to the media at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Preferred Pictures)
“The board again used closed session to debate conference mounting strategy and athletics department economy,” the trial reads. “There is no statutory exception that allows closed discussion of institutional attachments and budget planning.”
The trial adds: “Each episode follows the same pattern: The board invokes a statutory exception, enters a closed session, and then discusses broad policy or budgetary issues to be discussed in public. The board connects these violations by maintaining insufficient general accounts that prevent public understanding of what arises.”
McKenzie has a history of litigation against UNC, after coming out on top in a lawsuit against the university and its board of directors after the conference in May 2024.
A temporary restriction order was awarded on May 16, 2024, one day after McKenzie filed the case, which prevented the board of directors “from joining the closed session to discuss UNC Athletics’ financial items, budgeting, deficit or ongoing future conference terms and related strategic planning.” UNC later settled with McKenzie for $ 25,000 in July 2024 for the trial.
Belichick’s rent included a closed session that lasted for 41 minutes and eventually led to his employment as well as women’s head football coach Damon Nahas at UNC. It was a shock to the football world as Belichick had not coached in college during his famous career.
North Carolina chief coach Bill Belichick leads his team during the first half of a NCAA College -Football match against Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, Saturday 6 September 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
As the trial is called, Belichick was hired on a salary of $ 10 million per Season with further compensation for bringing his sons Steve and Brian Belichick to his coaching staff.
The case states that Belichick’s agreement placed “Total exposure far into the tens of thousands of millions over five years.”
Belichick’s College-Coaching debut has been pedestrian to start after walking 2-2 over his first four games.
