© Bob Donnan/Imagn
It’s never a good sign when a school’s chancellor and athletic director are offering a public vote of confidence to a head coach mid-way through said coach’s first season in charge.
Such was the case for Bill Belichick last week when he received backing from North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
“Coach Belichick has the full support of the Department of Athletics and University,” Cunningham said.
That comment came amid reports that Belichick and the university were each looking for an exit ramp that would be mutually beneficial.
Earlier in the week, a report surfaced that named program general manager Michael Lombardi as one of the biggest hindrances to Belichick’s success on the college level.
“One (agent) who took his client on a visit there said Lombardi told him, ‘We don’t fall in love (with players)’ and, ‘gave me the sales pitch about why would you say no to Bill Belichick?,” the report states. “Another said Lombardi made a strong initial offer for his client, then lowered it considerably over a subsequent series of calls: ‘He made it impossible to get a deal done because at some point, I’m being a bad agent for my client.'”
Now it turns out that Lombardi may have been tough to negotiate with because, frankly, he just didn’t have the money.
Bill Belichick And North Carolina Turned To Saudi Arabia For Investment In NIL
According to a report from Pablo Torre, who has vigorously covered Belichick’s tenure in Chapel Hill, Lombardi left the country two weeks before the season began to go fundraise in Saudi Arabia.
On tomorrow’s @pablofindsout…
Multiple sources tell me that UNC general manager Mike Lombardi left the team in August, two weeks before the season-opener, to fundraise in Saudi Arabia.
A lot more in the episode beyond that. More to come.
— Pablo Torre 👀 (@PabloTorre) October 16, 2025
Torre promised to expand more on the story during Friday’s episode of his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”
But going to Saudi Arabia shows a deep desperation to find NIL money that clearly could not be unearthed from UNC’s traditional donors.
Interestingly enough, Deion Sanders and Colorado pursued a similar avenue last year to no avail. It also does not sound like Lombardi’s venture was successful, marking just the latest first-year failure for he and Belichick.