Michael Lombardi assesses difference between NFL, college football

The biggest coaching hire following the 2024 college football season was, undoubtedly, Bill Belichick taking the job at North Carolina. He immediately began assembling a staff laced with former NFL personnel, including Michael Lombardi as the team’s general manager.

There has been a lot of debate about the difference between college and professional football. However, from Lombardi’s perspective, running an NFL franchise and a college program are relatively similar.

“Well, I had an academic meeting today,” Michael Lombardi smiled. “So, I wouldn’t have had that in the NFL, but I would have had a different meeting. I probably would have had a security meeting. So, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference in it, in the sense that there’s a lot of moving parts.”

Michael Lombardi has worked with Bill Belichick when they were with the Cleveland Browns. Then, he would become an assistant to the coaching staff with the New England Patriots. On top of that, Lombardi also made stops as an NFL GM and personnel executive with the Browns and Raiders.

Talent acquisition is inherently different in college and the NFL. College programs need to recruit players from high school as well as deal with the Transfer Portal where the NFL has a draft for first-year players to go along with multi-year contracts and free agency. That amounts to more work as you prepare for multiple seasons in college.

“There’s way more names that I’m dealing with. When you work as the general manager in the NFL, you’re dealing with one draft class, you’re dealing with one free agent class, and you can prepare for that. Now you’re dealing with the 2026 class, the 2027 class, the 2028 class. So, there’s a lot more names to deal with. So, there’s more volume than it would be in pro football, but the job is very similar. You have to accurately predict the future of players, talent, and their character, and then you’ve got to assign a dollar sign to it,” Lombardi said. “And you’ve got to be able to have in concert, the ability to develop the talent from within.”

North Carolina finished the Class of 2025 with the 51st-ranked high school class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. The Tar Heels also have the 27th-ranked transfer class in the current cycle.

“So I think what we learned watching the Super Bowl is the same thing we’ve learned before watching the Super Bowl, that teams that can control the offensive and defensive line win games,” Lombardi said. “And so from a team building standpoint, that’s what we said we were going to do in December. We’re going to build a team inside out, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do, and so part of my job is to maintain that philosophy.”

In the NFL Belichick was known as one of the greatest coaches in league history, winning eight Super Bowls including six as the head coach in New England. Lombardi was a part of three Super Bowl championships himself. Now, the pair are looking to have similar success in college with North Carolina.