The North Carolina Tar Heels might be 1-0 after a win over the TCU Horned Frogs to start the season, but it’s safe to say that things aren’t necessarily going well for Bill Belichick.
On Thursday, North Carolina general manager Michael Lombardi resigned from his position amidst an ongoing investigation, and it sounds like that investigation has now shifted toward some serious allegations against defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, Bill Belichick’s son.
While Belichick himself does not seem to be the subject of these investigations, it sounds like his job could still be at risk pending the results of the investigation.
North Carolina Investigation
With Lombardi now officially gone from the program, WRAL News reports that the investigation has now shifted its focus to Steve Belichick, with investigators asking questions about whether or not he used drugs on the job or provided drugs to at least one player.
“Lawyers hired to conduct the investigation are also questioning people about whether defensive coordinator Steve Belichick used drugs on the job or provided drugs to at least one player — and, separately, about whether a member of UNC’s recruiting staff had a sexual relationship with a player, people familiar with the investigation told WRAL. They also asked about possible sexual relationships between assistant coaches and recruiting staff, the people said,” WRAL reported on Thursday.
Separately, WRAL reports that the investigation is looking into whether or not an unnamed member of the North Carolina recruiting staff had a sexual relationship with a player.
UNC has declined to publicly disclose the specific purpose of the Lombardi investigation.
“As is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further,” the university said in a statement after the probe was announced.
Bill Belichick’s Job At Risk
While the investigation reportedly centers around Steve Belichick, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the investigation actually puts Bill Belichick’s job at risk, too.
As Florio points out, the WRAL News article reports that “people said they were asked whether they had reported any potentially questionable behavior to Bill Belichick.” This, as Florio points out, could pave the way for Bill Belichick to be fired for cause if he was found to have known about one or more of those matters and failed to report them.
Florio shared a key portion of Belichick’s contract with the school, Article 11(c): “Any action that is (i) taken by Coach or someone supervised by Coach, or (ii) taken at the direction of Coach or someone supervised by Coach, or (iii) known by Coach or someone supervised by Coach and not reported by Coach as required by this Agreement to the Department of Athletics Compliance office by the person supervised by coach, and that results in any material form of disciplinary finding, material action against, or material sanction for the Coach or the Program by the University’s athletics association (e.g. NCAA), athletics conference (e.g. ACC), University, or other regulatory body that exceeds an institutional letter of admonishment or reprimand.”
Belichick signed a five-year, $50 million deal with the school. If the investigation determines that he did not adequately report these issues, he could be fired for cause and have to forfeit his buyout.
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