Heel Tough Blog: Michael Lombardi Placed on Paid Administrative Leave

Jim Dedmon- Imagn Images

After a relatively quiet offseason off the field as compared to last year, UNC announced in a release this morning that general manager Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave, effective immediately.

The decision does not come from the athletic department or the football program, but rather UNC Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing Dean Stoyer. According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the leave stems from a HR complaint by a former UNC front office employee. Thamel reports that an investigation into these allegations is pending.

Lombardi, the highest paid general manager in college football at $1.5 million a year, was hired by Bill Belichick as the Tar Heels’ general manager back in December 2024. Lombardi’s contract currently runs through January 2028.

He was instrumental in putting together each of the first two rosters for Belichick in Chapel Hill and the current 2027 recruiting class.

On Thursday, the Tar Heels brass addressed the situation ahead of the beginning of fall camp. UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts had the strongest statements on the situation, pointing to the fact that this is taking the attention away from the players on the field. “I'm disappointed that we're that we're talking about this. We should be focusing on our student athletes and on their success on the field and on all of the wonderful things that happen at this university every day, providing opportunities for students from every nook and cranny of North Carolina, and so it's distressing to me and everyone else in the administration entrusted with leadership at this remarkable university that this is something that we have to have to spend time on.”

Roberts also talked more in-depth about the investigation. “With respect to football, we learned of some concerns last week. We put Mike Lombardi on administrative leave, as you know. We began an investigation. If something has gone wrong, we want to know about it. If something needs to be fixed, we will be sure to fix it. There's a standard of excellence here that all of us are entrusted with adhering to.” 

New athletic director Steve Newmark expressed a similar mindset on the situation when he stepped up to the microphone on Thursday. “We’re going to let that process play out. It’s paramount for us to do what’s right to make sure it’s a full and fair review, and that we don’t do anything to compromise the integrity of the process. From our perspective, we believe this will be the case — we’re hopeful that it will be an expedited process, because essentially what is important to us is trying to make sure we’re doing what’s right for the university and the athletic department and our student-athletes, is to ensure that once we get the results of the process, we take them into consideration and then we act quickly on whatever action may be appropriate based on those findings. At this point, there’s only been two official actions.” 

As for the head coach of the Tar Heels, he didn’t say much on the investigation, opting to say that the program is “working through some things” when it comes to the responsibilities of Michael Lombardi. He also mentioned that this is a day-to-day situation.

When it comes to the reports of the College Sports Commission possibly launching an investigation into the program, both Belichick and Newmark declined to comment.

Later in the day, Pete Nakos of On3 Sports reported that the CSC is not currently investigating the program, but that the compliance and enforcement entity that oversees NIL has been asking questions about "dealings and Michael Lombardi" recently.

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