UNC system president limits Chapel Hill trustees' authority after 'substantial legal risk' from Bill Belichick hire

In the wake of Bill Belichick’s at the University of North Carolina, there’s been some backlash within regarding how the process was handled.

UNC System President Peter Hans sent a memo to UNC-Chapel Hill trustees, telling them to stay out of negotiations around Tar Heel athletics. He cited the possibly of “substantial legal risk,” and he doesn’t want them overstepping their boundaries any longer, according to Matt Hartman of The Assembly.

“Instances continue to occur where members of the board appear to act independently of their campus’s administration in matters squarely within the responsibility of the chancellor,” Hans wrote in a memo to UNC-CH Board of Trustees Chair John Preyer and Chancellor Lee Roberts, via The Assembly.

“[Such actions] create substantial legal risk to the University—jeopardizing the North Carolina taxpayers’ money by blurring the lines of actual and apparent authority when these athletic departments negotiate business transactions with third parties.”

Additionally, Hartman noted that Hans proclaimed he was “temporarily suspending parts of ‘the delegations of authority’ that system policy gives to the Board of Trustees.”

As for changes going forward following Belichick’s hire, Hans wrote, “He or his designee must approve any hiring or salary adjustment related to athletic department employees other than administrative assistants,” Hartman added.

“For the UNC-CH athletic director and head coaches whose contracts must be approved by trustees, Hans said his sign-off will be needed first, and trustees shouldn’t ‘play any role in negotiation of such actions.'”

While Hartman stated that Hans didn’t mention any specific instances when the trustees overstepped their boundaries, the UNC System declined to elaborate, “but the memo came a month after UNC-CH trustees approved Bill Belichick’s hiring to lead the football team. 

“Multiple media outlets reported that trustees pursued Belichick as head coach outside the athletic department’s search process, with Preyer leading their efforts,” The Assembly reported.

In the meantime, North Carolina has united behind Bill Belichick, despite the circumstances surrounding his hire. What the future holds remain to be seen, but Matt Hartman noted that Peter Hans told the board to stick to its role of advising the UNC-CH chancellor.

“The Board of Trustees is encouraged to focus its continued efforts on the important substantive topics well within its responsibility for oversight and providing advice to the chancellor, including capital planning and operational improvements while keeping the total costs of attendance at UNC-Chapel Hill as low as practicable,” Hans added, via The Assembly.