Ad Disclosure
Michael Lombardi to serve as North Carolina’s GM under Bill Belichick
Michael Lombardi is set to join Bill Belichick at North Carolina as the program’s general manager.
That news was, somewhat uniquely, broken by Lombardi’s now-former employer. He had been working as a host and football analyst at VSiN prior to this appointment.
“I’m excited to join Coach Belichick at North Carolina,” Lombardi said in a statement through VSiN. “Although leaving my VSIN family will be hard, I’m excited to return to helping build a winning program. I’m forever thankful for all the great people at VSIN, especially Bill Adee and the Musburger family.”
North Carolina has not yet announced Lombardi’s hiring, although it’s possible Belichick will confirm it at a press conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Chapel Hill.
Lombardi has been building a media career for several years now, but he does have previous experience in NFL front offices. Most recently, he worked with Belichick in New England from 2014-16 as an assistant to the coaching staff. However, he was also in Cleveland’s front office in various roles from 1987-95. He overlapped with Belichick when he was the Browns’ head coach from 1991-95.
The general manager position at the collegiate level has been growing in importance in recent years, particularly in the transfer portal era. Lombardi will no doubt have a key role as North Carolina looks to build out its roster for 2025 and beyond.
Belichick and North Carolina will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.