Bill Belichick rocked as UNC put his closest ally on paid leave in bombshell move before new college season
Bill Belichick’s longtime ally, friend and GM at University of North Carolina Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave in an extraordinary move just weeks before the college football season starts.
Lombardi was Belichick’s first hire when he made the stunning move into the college game after leaving the New England Patriots and failing to land another job in the NFL.
He is paid $1.5million-a-year by UNC, making him the top-paid GM in the college game. But now, he will not be alongside the most successful coach in NFL history in the lead up to his hugely anticipated second campaign in North Carolina.
The university announced the news in a bombshell statement Monday morning, saying: ‘The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has placed Michael Lombardi, general manager for the Carolina football program, on paid administrative leave, effective immediately.
Bill Belichick’s GM Michael Lombardi has been placed on leave by University of North Carolina
The bombshell news presents a fresh crisis for Belichick weeks before the college season
‘As is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further, and has no reflection on the merits.’
Lombardi has been a staunch defender of Belichick, 74, while his personal life and relationship with girlfriend Jordon Hudson, 25, has continued to claim attention.
Last June, he slammed critics of the couple’s relationship after Belichick’s excruciating CBS interview where Hudson called out from off-camera to stop him answering questions on how they first met.
‘It’s comical,’ Lombardi said of the backlash. ‘My job is to focus on North Carolina football, and Bill’s job is to focus on North Carolina football, and that’s what he has done, and that’s what I’ve done. And we’re gonna continue to do that.
‘The noise out there comes from a direction of people trying to be disruptive within our program. We’re not going to allow it.’
But now Lombardi is the noise with Belichick facing a fresh crisis at a terrible time.
Belichick and Lombardi have worked together since 1987, when Belichick was at the Cleveland Browns.
UNC’s college season starts in a little over a month, against TCU on August 29. Last year, Belichick endured a catastrophic first season in the college game with team slumping to a 4-8 record – after Lombardi boasted of plans to turn the school into a ’33rd NFL team’.
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