{"id":205704,"date":"2025-10-06T21:37:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T21:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/205704\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T21:37:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T21:37:06","slug":"players-parents-blame-belichick-culture-for-unc-problems-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/205704\/","title":{"rendered":"Players, parents blame Belichick culture for UNC problems :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Belichick
\nsold his UNC football program as the “33rd NFL team.”\u00a0 Through five games as a college football
\ncoach, the Tar Heels rank 128th in points per game out of the 136 NCAA Division
\nI Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Pick a stat right now, it’s not good. A
\n38-10 loss to Clemson Saturday was Carolina’s latest embarrassment<\/a>. A few weeks
\nearlier, the stadium and student section were buzzing and brimming with optimism.
\nSaturday versus Clemson, the stadium began to empty at halftime. <\/p>\n

So how has the six-time Super Bowl champion coach, who many consider the greatest of all time,
\nfallen so far from grace? WRAL has spoken to parents of UNC players, members of
\nthe staff, the athletic department and the UNC board of Trustees. Multiple
\nsources with knowledge of the inner workings of Belichick’s program say the
\nresults on the field are a product of a divided locker room, a disorganized
\ncoaching staff and a failure to communicate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s an
\nunstructured mess,” a source with first-hand knowledge of the program told
\nWRAL. “There’s no culture, no organization. It’s a complete
\ndisaster.”<\/p>\n

UNC fired Mack
\nBrown <\/a>on Nov. 26, 2024, days after a 41-21 loss at Boston College. He went
\n6-6 in his final season. In his six seasons during his second go-around at UNC, Brown won at least six games every year. 2022 was his most successful season: Carolina went 9-5, won the Coastal Division and lost in the Holiday Bowl.
\nBrown’s record versus NC State and inexplicable losses as a double-digit
\nfavorite to teams like James Madison, were reasons you could point to why
\nCarolina chose to move on. <\/p>\n

Belichick was
\nnamed UNC head coach on Dec. 11<\/a>, 2024, in a search led by UNC Chancellor Lee
\nRoberts and John Preyer, who was the Board of Trustees chair at the time. According
\nto sources, the divide in Belichick’s locker room started right away. <\/p>\n

“It’s all
\nstarting at the top, and the boys are being affected,” a parent of a
\ncurrent UNC player said under the condition of anonymity for fear of
\nretaliation. “I don’t fault the players; I fault the leadership that
\ncreated this toxic environment. There’s an individualistic mindset. The boys
\nare young, and they are feeding into it.”<\/p>\n

The challenge for
\nBelichick, who had never coached college football before, was navigating a
\nsport that had undergone tremendous change in the last several years. The
\ntransfer portal and constantly evolving NIL rules were challenging for college
\nfootball veterans, let alone someone new to the sport. At Belichick’s
\nintroductory press conference, he said he thought his NFL experience would help him navigate the new college structure.<\/p>\n

“I do think
\nthere are a lot of parallels,” Belichick said at this introductory press
\nconference December 12. “I think that’s the reason for the general
\nstructure of Michael [Lombardi] as the general manager and myself as the coach
\nworking together collaboratively like we’ve done in a professional organization.
\nI do think there are some parallels.”<\/p>\n

Lombardi as
\ngeneral manager was Belichick’s first hire<\/a>. Lombardi’s only listed college
\nexperience is as a recruiting coordinator for UNLV from 1981-1984. In the NFL
\nhe began as a scout with the 49ers. He worked with Belichick with the Cleveland
\nBrowns and New England Patriots. <\/p>\n

The transfer portal opened Dec. 9. Together,
\nBelichick and Lombardi would bring in 70 new players between the portal and
\ntheir high school signing class<\/a>. According to sources, it was there that a
\ndivide organically formed between the Mack Brown-recruited players and the
\ntransfers. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tPreferences for Belichick’s recruits<\/p>\n

“It started
\nwith recruits coming in acting entitled to certain things,” a source said.
\n“It was about them individually, not the team. It was about me and what I
\nwas going to do.”<\/p>\n

It’s common in
\ncollege football for players who transfer to get paid more than players who
\nstay, but according to multiple sources, Belichick and his staff haven’t done
\nenough to unite the players. There are multiple examples of preferential
\ntreatment for transfers that have added to the discord in the team. <\/p>\n

According to
\nseveral sources, some Belichick-recruited transfers have preferential parking
\nfor themselves and their parents, as well as more tickets for games. Khmori
\nHouse and Thaddeus Dixon played for Belichick’s son, Steve Belichick, at the
\nUniversity of Washington. Their names come up repeatedly when talking to
\nsources about preferential treatment. Dixon’s family has field access on game
\ndays, something that no other family is believed to have. <\/p>\n

According to
\nsources, there’s a board in the UNC football facility that lists people who
\nhave missed workouts and class. Some Belichick-recruited players repeatedly
\nshow up on the list but have not had their playing time affected. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tCoaches who don’t communicate<\/p>\n

Failure to
\ncommunicate with players and parents has also furthered the divide. According
\nto sources, the players who chose to stay at UNC after Mack Brown’s firing
\ndidn’t meet Belichick for weeks after he was hired. Parents were told not to
\napproach Belichick. They didn’t meet Belichick and his staff until the
\n“Practice like a Pro” spring game. <\/p>\n

“There’s
\nbeen no communication with coaches and parents period,” a parent of a
\ncurrent UNC player said. “None, zero, zilch. Not one email from a coach,
\none text, phone call, nothing.”<\/p>\n

Under Mack Brown,
\nparents had relationships with coaches and their phone numbers. Coaches might
\ncall a parent if they felt something was going on with their son. Multiple
\nsources have said that Belichick’s son, Brian, the defensive back\/safeties
\ncoach, is very personable. Belichick’s son Steve, the defensive coordinator,
\nthey said, is the opposite. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t>> Belichick’s first coaching staff at UNC includes his two sons<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“He has not
\ntalked or had a conversation with most of the guys on defense,” a source
\nsaid. “They don’t even have his number.”<\/p>\n

The experience
\nlevel and perceived nepotism with Bill Belichick’s staff have been frequently
\ncalled into question in the media. Internally, it is being questioned by
\nplayers and parents too. <\/p>\n

“The lack of
\nexperience the coaches have, it’s ridiculous,” a source said. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t>> Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick tops UNC assistants in salary<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Belichick
\nwas a defensive coordinator for one season at Washington prior to UNC. He began
\nas a defensive assistant in 2012 under his father with the Patriots. He moved
\ninto defensive position coach roles in New England and was their defensive play
\ncaller from 2020-23. <\/p>\n

Brian Belichick
\nhad a nine-year career with the Patriots. He started as a scouting assistant in
\n2016 and was the team’s safeties coach from 2020-23. <\/p>\n

Matt Lombardi,
\nthe son of Michael Lombardi, is the team’s quarterbacks coach. He spent the
\n2024 season as an offensive analyst at the University of Oregon. According to
\nUNC’s website, prior to that Lombardi worked as an assistant wide receivers
\ncoach with the Las Vegas Raiders and an assistant quarterbacks coach of the
\nCarolina Panthers with an additional stint on the offensive staff of the Miami
\nDolphins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the most
\ninexperienced coaches are outside linebackers coach Ty Nichols and cornerbacks
\ncoach Armond Hawkins. Prior to UNC Nichols was an analyst and a defensive
\ngraduate assistant at Arizona. Hawkins started as a director of high school
\nrelations at USC. He spent a season at Colorado as an assistant recruiting
\ncoordinator, was an assistant director of recruiting and defensive analyst at
\nArizona, and a defensive analyst at Washington. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Belichick himself
\nhas been praised by multiple sources for his one one-on-one coaching; it\u2019s his
\nability to run the program that’s being questioned by parents and players. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Bill shuts
\npeople out. He’s limited in what he says,” a source said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Belichick will
\nsay “hi” when he sees players in the building. His GM, Michael
\nLombardi, has been described by multiple sources as “rude” and
\n“nasty.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Nobody
\nlikes him,” a source said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In a recent
\nletter to donors during Carolina’s bye week ahead of the Clemson game, Lombardi
\npositioned the UNC program as a rebuild. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201dTwenty years of
\nsustained success in New England was due to investing in the long term,
\nestablishing continuity within the program, which allowed growth and
\ndevelopment of the players,” Lombardi wrote. “This is the formula we
\nintend to use by signing a large high school class. There must be a blend of
\nold and new which provides short and long-term answers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Lombardi’s
\nfirst season as Carolina GM<\/a>, he has struggled at football’s most important
\nposition. Belichick and Lombardi were able to retain quarterbacks Max Johnson,
\nwho suffered a broken leg in 2024, and Bryce Baker, a four-star high school
\nrecruit from Kernersville, NC. They landed Ryan Browne in the transfer portal
\nfrom Purdue. According to sources, Browne was asked to leave after spring
\npractice. Lombardi tried to rescind Browne’s NIL money. According to sources, Browne got a lawyer involved and reached a settlement. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Former South
\nAlabama quarterback Gio Lopez transferred to UNC<\/a> after the spring. He was named
\nthe team’s starter and is making $2 million this season according to sources. In
\nfour games, Lopez threw for 430 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He was
\ninjured in the second half of the UCF game. Johnson started versus Clemson.
\nAccording to sources Johnson hasn’t been making any NIL money from UNC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of
\nBelichick’s selling points when he was hired was preparing players for the NFL.
\nParents and players have been complimentary of Belichick’s actual coaching
\nacumen and the increased strength and conditioning they’ve seen from workouts
\nand nutrition. But parents have been frustrated by Belichick’s decision to ban
\nNew England Patriots scouts<\/a> from the UNC facilities. After the Charlotte game,
\nBelichick confirmed reports that he banned the Patriots in response to the
\nPatriots banning him. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s clear
\nI’m not welcome there at their facility. So, they’re not welcome at ours,”
\nBelichick said.<\/p>\n

After Belichick
\nand Patriots owner Robert Kraft agreed to mutually part ways in January of
\n2024, no NFL teams offered a job to Belichick according to reports. The
\nsix-time Super Bowl champion interviewed for but did not receive any NFL head
\ncoaching jobs. UNC’s lack of discipline on the field and divisiveness off it
\nshows a glimpse as to why. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“The
\ndisconnect comes from this is not NFL,” a source said. “There are
\ncertain ways to operate in the NFL that you can’t do in college.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The points of
\ndivision are small, but the feeling among sources is that the little has become
\nbig. Things like the non-travel roster are not getting to dress in uniform at
\nhome games. Former UNC quarterback Bryn Renner, who played for the Tar Heels
\nfrom 2009-2013, said he’d seen that done with practice squad players in the
\nNFL, but not in college football.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think
\npart of the tradition and in part of college sports is you are involved with a
\nteam at a high level, and game days are special, and you don’t know how many
\nyou’re going to get,” Renner said. “Sometimes these kids are only
\ngoing to put on a Carolina uniform that Saturday. And you’ve got to think about
\nthat. And I just have never seen it. I think it’s really good for morale.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to
\nsources, another example of a lack of unity is that some players are selling
\ntheir spare tickets for cash instead of sharing with other players and their
\nfamilies like UNC has done in the past. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tPreaching patience<\/p>\n

WRAL talked to a
\nsource on the UNC football staff who said they did not believe the locker room
\nwas divided or that the staff was dysfunctional. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Renner said that
\nthe players need to be held accountable for their play as well. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think
\nthere’s a lot of guys looking around and seeing who, who’s going to lead,”
\nRenner told WRAL. “When you when you create a roster with 70 guys that are coming from all different areas, and you really haven’t had time to mesh and
\ngel, it’s hard to hold somebody accountable that you don’t know, and I think
\nthat’s the biggest thing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“At a
\ncertain point, the players have to go and make plays, and they’re accountable
\nfor what happens on the field. The coaches can’t go play,” Renner
\ncontinued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week UNC
\nchancellor Lee Roberts preached patience<\/a> at a Board of Trustees meeting before
\nthe Clemson loss. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s not
\nthe kind of thing that we judge after four games or even after one season,\u201d
\nRoberts said. \u201dThese things take time. We last won the conference championship
\nin 1980, and so we have significant work to do, significant investment to make
\nto get the program where we want it to be.”\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201dA minimum level
\nof patience is required for any level of future success,\u201d said UNC-Chapel Hill
\nBoard of Trustees chair Malcolm Turner, a former athletics director at
\nVanderbilt. \u201dI appreciate the need and desire for instant gratification, but it
\ntakes time to create success.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after the
\nClemson loss, the feeling within the UNC athletic department remains the same. Given
\nthe investment made in Belichick, patience is the path, but they also
\nunderstand that they hired Belichick knowing he didn’t have college experience.
\nThey would like to help and support the coaches and players, but the staff
\nneeds to be open to that help as well. According to Belichick’s contract, the buyout
\nwould be $20 million at the end of this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 73 years old,
\ntime at UNC was never on Belichick’s side. After a 38-10 loss to Clemson,
\nBelichick and the Tar Heels have been outscored 120-33 versus power four teams.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s a lack
\nof concentration,” he said, “and part of that is coaching, too, so
\nI’ll take my share of the responsibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the loss to
\nClemson, Belichick was asked what he has to say to fans and donors who feel
\nthey aren’t getting their money’s worth. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re going
\nto keep working and grinding,” Belichick said. “We’re going to move
\non the right track.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Belichick sold his UNC football program as the “33rd NFL team.”\u00a0 Through five games as a college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-205704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}