After Juan Soto signed a mega deal with the New York Mets, the biggest sports news this week was six-time Super Bowl champion NFL coach Bill Belichick taking his talents to the college ranks to be the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels football team. Among his first hires is Michael Lombardi, who has spent the last several years with sports betting network VSiN as host of his own show, “The Lombardi Line.”
While Lombardi’s knowledge of odds and statistics may be useful at UNC, it is his experience on the personnel side of football that Belichick believes will serve him as the general manager of the Tar Heels program.
Lombardi spent the better part of more than three decades in various roles in the NFL, culminating with a single year (2013) as the general manager and vice president of the Cleveland Browns. After being let go by the Browns, Lombardi spent 2014-2016 with Belichick as an assistant to the New England Patriots coaching staff.
he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with”
While Belichick was still the Pats’ head man, he said of Lombardi: “He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with and was a huge asset to me for the two years that he was here. He studies football, and he knows it very well.”
As UNC’s general manager, a new position cropping up at many college football programs in this era of the transfer portal and name, likeness, and image (NIL) payments to players, Lombardi will be charged with recruiting and NIL management as he and Belichick work to build a pro-style program on the college level.
