North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi reveals he has also not signed his contract while defending against Bill Belichick reports

A report emerged from CBS Sports on Thursday morning that North Carolina coach Bill Belichick hasn’t signed a contract with the program yet, potentially leaving some wiggle room in his buyout should the NFL come calling.

General manager Michael Lombardi pushed back against that narrative hard on Twitter, then joined the Pat McAfee Show to further discuss.

“I mean I’m loud because I think so many of them, especially the one that keeps going on is being generated by someone who doesn’t like our program, doesn’t like our program, doesn’t like me or coach Belichick, and refuses to allow it to go,” Lombardi said. “(Bill) Parcells used to say to me all the time, ‘Quit kicking the horse, he’s already dead.’ Well, they keep kicking something that doesn’t exist.

“It’s clicks for their website, which is wonderful, and then they take shots at us as individuals. But, look, somebody has to stand up for our program, right? And somebody has to be able to put their voice into the program. Everyone says, ‘Well why isn’t Bill speaking out?’ Bill doesn’t speak out, that’s what I’m supposed to do as the general manager here, is to let people know what’s going on with our program. He’s not going anywhere.”

The North Carolina general manager outlined that Belichick has been operating like any other college head coach would right now, hiring staff and recruiting both the transfer portal and the high school ranks.

“We are doing good. We’re out recruiting. Everybody’s on the road,” Lombardi said. “Coach Belichick is on the road. He’s in DC today, in spite of all the stories trying to say that he’s not working and here and contract all that. Coach is on the road recruiting. He’s in Baltimore. He’s in actually DC today, he’ll be in Baltimore tomorrow. And we’re trying to get some players to become Tar Heels, he’s excited.”

But the noteworthy bit from the CBS Sports report is the news on signed contracts. On the surface, that seems like a big deal when it comes to Belichick. Lombardi attempted to alleviate any concerns stemming from that fact by revealing he also hasn’t signed a contract yet, explaining why.

“You know, contracts are very complicated, and I think if you understand the North Carolina system, it is a state institution, it takes a while to get things done,” he said. “There’s a lot of hurdles to go through. But we’re all getting paid. You know, I haven’t signed my contract yet, Pat. So this is just a complete story that people want to run with.”

How firmly did Lombardi make the point that Bill Belichick is happy where he’s at in North Carolina? Well, he threw water on the idea that Belichick would be interested in NFL jobs.

“I’ve said this many times: I was with Bill every day in the fall. We talked about every single NFL job that could open up, and every time I would bring one up with hopes he would be interested, he shot it down,” Lombardi said. “He’s where he wants to be, and I know it’s hard to get it through some of these thick people’s heads that he wants to be somewhere else. This is where he wants to be. And I’m just a spokesman, but I’m telling you exactly what it is.”