On Monday, UNC fans woke up to news that their GM, Michael Lombardi, had been placed on administrative leave. ESPN’s Pete Thamel later reported that the Tar Heels made the decision after a complaint from a former UNC employee at the front office. Ever since then, the program has been under tough scrutiny. Now, as per a CFB insider, the GM’s transition to college football didn’t leave others at the program pleased.

“It shouldn’t be surprising that two guys who had never worked there in college athletics and are older guys would be so rigid in how they thought about it,” The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman said on the July 28 Audible podcast. “But from what I was told, Lombardi was just kind of very dismissive and arrogant when he was told why these are the way things work.”

Mike Lombardi joined UNC in 2024 on a $1.5 million per year contract and became the highest-paid GM in college football history. His ties to head coach Bill Belichick go back to the latter’s tenure with the Browns. That was probably the reason the 74-year-old brought Lombardi to his first college gig. Despite having more than four decades of experience in football, CFB was a new space for the GM. He last worked in college.

“We know a bunch of the people who have either worked there right before or worked there around there. Who are very versed and well respected by some of the top people in the country in college football,” Feldman said. “And they were of no use to Mike Lombardi. They’ve had a lot of turnover again. So, it’s just a bleep show in Chapel Hill.”

North Carolina seems to be in a deep rut now. The program had a disappointing season last year, and the Mike Lombardi situation has put Belichick in a tough position. The timing of the suspension is also bad. UNC is set to begin its training camp on July 30, and morale will surely be low now. It’s also hard to get to the timeline of Lombardi’s suspension, too, since UNC has been tight-lipped.

The Chapel Hill program, in its statement, has said that it’s now following standard procedure with personnel leadership. Not just that, the program also restricted its staff, leadership, and students from commenting on the issue.

During his tenure, Lombardi had tried to relay his ’33rd NFL team’ philosophy at Chapel Hill. In his first few months, the GM oversaw the transition from the Mack Brown era. Belichick had to build a new team after multiple players entered the portal. In 2026, the GM helped the program achieve a top-25 recruiting class, and the transfer portal acquisitions are also decent.

However, the period has also been marked by off-field controversies surrounding the head coach’s personal life. And when everything had calmed before the Tar Heels start a new campaign, the program got hit by another shocker.