Michael Lombardi cites respect for Bill Belichick as reason for joining North Carolina staff

The North Carolina Tar Heels made waves when they hired Bill Belichick as their next head coach. Now, Belichick is looking to assemble a top-tier staff, including bringing in Michael Lombardi as the program’s general manager.

In the aftermath of the news that Lombardi would join the staff at North Carolina, Lombardi appeared on The Pat McAfee show. There, he cited his respect for Belichick and belief in what they can accomplish in North Carolina as why he chose to take on this new role.

“We got here because of my great respect for the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick,” Michael Lombardi said. “That’s why I’m here because there was never a time in my life that I enjoyed more in my professional career than working for him, and building football teams with him, and understanding and learning the game of football from him. So, this is an opportunity that really kind of came about because of that.”

Michael Lombardi actually began his career in college as a recruiting coordinator at UNLV from 1981 to 1984. From there, he would move into the NFL for the majority of his career, working with Belichick in both Cleveland and New England. He won three Super Bowls during that time.

“I’m really excited at this point in my career,” Lombardi said. “I’m certainly not ready to retire. I think I have a lot to offer. I think I’m probably more ready to be a GM now than I was when I was one earlier in my career because of experience. So, I’m excited to work with Coach again. I’m excited to work in Chapel Hill.”

Lombardi went on to share that North Carolina is a place he and Belichick have been aware of for decades and thinking about in regards to what is possible in that program.

“We’ve always said this is a magical place. You know, it’s funny how history turns around. In 1992, Bill and I were on this campus. We were scouting. We were living in Cleveland at the time. Dark winters, cold rain, you know how it goes so we had to get South. We came to Chapel Hill. We stayed over at the Carolina Inn, this really magnificent hotel on campus. We brought Jim Schwartz and all the guys from Cleveland. We watched tape all day, we went for a jog, and we thought how in the hell can’t you win here? That’s been our minds ever since,” Lombardi said.

“To me, this is a magical place that has had great players. Lawrence Taylor. Julius Peppers. Some incredibly great players. We need to build great teams.”

The last time North Carolina played for a conference championship was in 2022 and the last time the Tar Heels won a conference championship was in 1980. Now, Bill Belichick, Michael Lombardi, and the rest of the new Tar Heels staff will look to bring back more success to Chapel Hill.