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Report: North Carolina paying Michael Lombardi $1.5 million per year as General Manager

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•about 9 hours•

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Screenshot 2025-02-26 at 11.00.07 AM
Tar Heel Tribune on YouTube

North Carolina is reportedly paying new GM Michael Lombardi $1.5 million a year, per Inside Carolina’s Ross Martin.

Lombardi will be new head coach Bill Belichick’s trusted lieutenant this coming season. The roster building philosophy looks to be a mix of classic college and NFL.

The idea is to build the program from the inside out, starting with the offensive line. The logic behind that philosophy is something that Lombardi recently explained.

“The great thing about football is you can study winning on any level and there’s a formula for why teams win and why teams lose,” Lombardi said. “And if you pay close attention to it, it’s not that difficult football. Football, going back to when [Vince] Lombardi coached the Packers in the 60s, to when you know Bill coached the Giants, or Bill Walsh coached the 49ers, it’s about who wins the line and who controls the game.”

Lombardi pointed to the recent Super Bowl and other NFL champions to prove his point. Teams that control the game, control the line of scrimmage. Those are also the teams that end up winning.

“There’s always two elements in a football game, who’s in the lead and who’s in control. On Sunday, it was pretty clear the Eagles were in the lead and in control. There was really no dispute,” Lombardi said. “But if you go back to the 28-3 game against Atlanta, Atlanta was in the lead, but not necessarily in control. So, the only way you can get in control of the game is through the offensive and defensive lines. So, if you believe that philosophy, that’s building the team inside out from the lines to the receivers.”

Lombardi knows that North Carolina starting on the line of scrimmage won’t necessarily win headlines in the offseason. However, it’s on that basis that he hopes to make the program sustainably good.

“Now, we’re in the mock draft season on TV, you’ll see 42 receivers going in the first round,” Lombardi said. “As if everybody forgot about how the Eagles won the Super Bowl.”