Despite the team’s 1-0 record, a storm has been blowing through the North Carolina football program, with most of it playing out privately.
The situation became much more public last Thursday, with the abrupt resignation of G.M. Mike Lombardi followed by a report from WRAL indicating that the investigation that started with Lombardi has expanded to include defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and others.
Head coach Bill Belichick met with reporters on Monday, for the first time since the situation hit the fan. To no surprise, Belichick didn’t have much to say in response to multiple questions about Lombardi, Steve Belichick, and the overall program.
The questions were posed despite an opening comment from a team spokesperson before Belichick took the podium, via WRAL: “Coach Belichick, student athletes, and other university employees will not discuss the situation in any manner. That is necessary to protect the integrity of the process and the rights of everyone involved.”
In his own introductory remarks, Bill Belichick mentioned “the importance of the work that’s being done by the investigative team and, obviously, our high standard here of our code of conduct and doing things the right way and making sure that our student-athletes are given the utmost, the best treatment, the very best care, and the very best coaching that we can possibly give them.”
He was then peppered with inquiries about the investigation, despite the effort to avoid talking about it.
The mere existence of an investigation that is exploring the behavior of multiple football employees shows that there’s at least a question about whether the “high standard here of our code of conduct” has been met — including the question of whether the head coach knew about any of the potential irregularities and failed to report them.
Bill Belichick’s potential failure to report issues of which he was aware becomes a potential recipe for a termination “for cause,” which would cut off his buyout.
Frankly, the entire situation feels like an effort to find something that would give UNC an escape hatch from a hiring it already regrets, the upset win over TCU notwithstanding. And it creates an overriding vibe that his departure is inevitable. Possibly with no further financial obligation from the school to its second-year head coach.