All the dirt involving Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels football program has come to light over the last week. Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi have been raked over the coals for how they’ve conducted the current staff and roster at UNC.
From the start, not only was Belichick’s hiring heavily criticized, but so was Lombardi’s. A longtime follower of the former New England Patriots head coach, Lombardi has produced little success of his own. As general manager of the Tar Heels, he was largely responsible for negotiating with players to join the 2025 roster.
And he made one big whiff at quarterback.
According to The Athletic, Lombardi nixed the idea of bringing in Chandler Morris, who was interested in transferring to UNC to play for Belichick. Instead, Lombardi chose Purdue’s Ryan Browne, believing he was a better fit for the Tar Heels.
It was seemingly another arrogant play by Lombardi, leaning on his NFL résumé.
“You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,” Lombardi told anonymous UNC staff members, per The Athletic.
Browne is 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds compared to Morris at 6-foot and 190, fitting the prototypical NFL mold teams prefer. But this wasn’t the NFL — it was college football.
UNC Lost Out on Ryan Browne and Chandler Morris
UNC brought in a total of 70 new commitments from high school recruiting and the transfer portal. Neither Browne nor Morris was one of them. Browne eventually returned to Purdue in the spring, while Morris signed with Virginia, where he’s helped spark the Cavaliers’ best start since 2019.
Morris in particular has been a major addition, leading Virginia to a 5-1 record and an undefeated ACC start. He’s completing nearly 70% of his passes for 1,428 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions, while adding 176 rushing yards and four more scores.
“Of course, knowing what it takes to play in the NFL might not be the same thing as knowing what it takes to win college football games, or more specifically, how the more mobile Morris might be a better fit than Browne to navigate behind an overmatched offensive line,” The Athletic wrote.
North Carolina eventually settled on South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez, who has battled injuries all season. Veteran Max Johnson has stepped in to take playing time. The two have combined for just 813 yards passing for five touchdowns and four interceptions.
UNC Standing Firm With Bill Belichick
Despite a headline-grabbing week in which the Tar Heels aren’t even going to play a game, Belichick and athletic director Bubba Cunningham have had to go into damage control.
On October 8, rumors swirled that after all the dirty laundry aired, Belichick and UNC were working on an “exit strategy.” That hasn’t happened, with Belichick and Cunningham instead going public on the team’s social media account.
Belichick made it simple, saying he was “fully committed to UNC football.” Cunningham added that Belichick had the “full support of the Department of Athletics and University.”
At 2-3 with nothing but ACC opponents left, Belichick and his staff must find a way to at least look competitive in their remaining seven games. But with this roster, that may not happen.
“We don’t have one pro player on the whole roster,” one person within the program said.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post UNC’s Bill Belichick, Michael Lombardi Passed on Top ACC QB Because He Wasn’t ‘NFL Caliber’ appeared first on Heavy Sports.