Divided locker room, disastrous results: Players, parents blame Belichick culture for UNC problems

Bill Belichick sold his UNC football program as the "33rd NFL team." Through five games as a college football coach, the Tar Heels rank 128th in points per game out of the 136 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Pick a stat right now, it's not good. A 38-10 loss to Clemson on Saturday was Carolina's latest embarrassment. A few weeks earlier, the stadium and student section were buzzing and brimming with optimism. Saturday versus Clemson, the stadium began to empty at halftime.

So how has the six-time Super Bowl champion coach, who many consider the greatest of all time, fallen so far from grace? WRAL has spoken to parents of UNC players, members of the staff, the athletic department and the UNC Board of Trustees. Multiple sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Belichick's program say the results on the field are a product of a divided locker room, a disorganized coaching staff and a failure to communicate.

"It's an unstructured mess," a source with first-hand knowledge of the program told WRAL. "There's no culture, no organization. It's a complete disaster."

UNC fired Mack Brown on Nov. 26, 2024, days after a 41-21 loss at Boston College. He went 6-6 in his final season. In his six seasons during his second go-around at UNC, Brown won at least six games every year. 2022 was his most successful season: Carolina went 9-5, won the Coastal Division and lost in the Holiday Bowl. Brown's record versus NC State and inexplicable losses as a double-digit favorite to teams like James Madison were reasons you could point to why Carolina chose to move on.

Belichick was named UNC head coach on Dec. 11, 2024, in a search led by UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts and John Preyer, who was the Board of Trustees chair at the time. According to sources, the divide in Belichick's locker room started right away.

"It's all starting at the top, and the boys are being affected," a parent of a current UNC player said under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. "I don't fault the players; I fault the leadership that created this toxic environment. There's an individualistic mindset. The boys are young, and they are feeding into it."

The challenge for Belichick, who had never coached college football before, was navigating a sport that had undergone tremendous change in the last several years. The transfer portal and constantly evolving NIL rules were challenging for college football veterans, let alone someone new to the sport. At Belichick's introductory press conference, he said he thought his NFL experience would help him navigate the new college structure.

"I do think there are a lot of parallels," Belichick said at his introductory news conference on Dec. 12, 2024. "I think that's the reason for the general structure of Michael [Lombardi] as the general manager and myself as the coach working together collaboratively like we've done in a professional organization. I do think there are some parallels."

Lombardi as general manager was Belichick's first hire. Lombardi's only listed college experience is as a recruiting coordinator for UNLV from 1981-1984. In the NFL he began as a scout with the 49ers. He worked with Belichick with the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots.

The transfer portal opened Dec. 9, 2024. Together, Belichick and Lombardi would bring in 70 new players between the portal and their high school signing class. According to sources, it was there that a divide organically formed between the Mack Brown-recruited players and the transfers.

Preferences for Belichick's recruits

"It started with recruits coming in acting entitled to certain things," a source said. "It was about them individually, not the team. It was about me and what I was going to do."

It's common in college football for players who transfer to get paid more than players who stay, but according to multiple sources, Belichick and his staff haven't done enough to unite the players. There are multiple examples of preferential treatment for transfers that have added to the discord in the team.

According to several sources, some Belichick-recruited transfers have preferential parking for themselves and their parents, as well as more tickets for games. Khmori House and Thaddeus Dixon played for Belichick's son, Steve Belichick, at the University of Washington. Their names come up repeatedly when talking to sources about preferential treatment. Dixon's family has field access on game days, something that no other family is believed to have.

According to sources, there's a board in the UNC football facility that lists people who have missed workouts and class. Some Belichick-recruited players repeatedly show up on the list but have not had their playing time affected.

Coaches who don't communicate

Failure to communicate with players and parents has also furthered the divide. According to sources, the players who chose to stay at UNC after Mack Brown's firing didn't meet Belichick for weeks after he was hired. Parents were told not to approach Belichick. They didn't meet Belichick and his staff until the "Practice like a Pro" spring game.

"There's been no communication with coaches and parents, period," a parent of a current UNC player said. "None, zero, zilch. Not one email from a coach, one text, phone call, nothing."

Under Mack Brown, parents had relationships with coaches and their phone numbers. Coaches might call a parent if they felt something was going on with their son. Multiple sources have said that Belichick's son, Brian, the defensive back/safeties coach, is very personable. Belichick's son Steve, the defensive coordinator, they said, is the opposite.

>> Belichick's first coaching staff at UNC includes his two sons

"He has not talked or had a conversation with most of the guys on defense," a source said. "They don't even have his number."

The experience level and perceived nepotism with Bill Belichick's staff have been frequently called into question in the media. Internally, it is being questioned by players and parents too.

"The lack of experience the coaches have, it's ridiculous," a source said.

>> Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick tops UNC assistants in salary

Steve Belichick was a defensive coordinator for one season at Washington prior to UNC. He began as a defensive assistant in 2012 under his father with the Patriots. He moved into defensive position coach roles in New England and was their defensive play caller from 2020-23.

Brian Belichick had a nine-year career with the Patriots. He started as a scouting assistant in 2016 and was the team's safeties coach from 2020-23.

Matt Lombardi, the son of Michael Lombardi, is the team's quarterbacks coach. He spent the 2024 season as an offensive analyst at the University of Oregon. According to UNC's website, prior to that Lombardi worked as an assistant wide receivers coach with the Las Vegas Raiders and an assistant quarterbacks coach of the Carolina Panthers with an additional stint on the offensive staff of the Miami Dolphins.

Among the most inexperienced coaches are outside linebackers coach Ty Nichols and cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins. Prior to UNC Nichols was an analyst and a defensive graduate assistant at Arizona. Hawkins started as a director of high school relations at USC. He spent a season at Colorado as an assistant recruiting coordinator, was an assistant director of recruiting and defensive analyst at Arizona, and a defensive analyst at Washington.

Belichick himself has been praised by multiple sources for his one-on-one coaching; it’s his ability to run the program that's being questioned by parents and players.

"Bill shuts people out. He's limited in what he says," a source said.

Belichick will say "hi" when he sees players in the building. His GM, Michael Lombardi, has been described by multiple sources as "rude" and "nasty."

"Nobody likes him," a source said.

In a recent letter to donors during Carolina's bye week ahead of the Clemson game, Lombardi positioned the UNC program as a rebuild.

”Twenty years of sustained success in New England was due to investing in the long term, establishing continuity within the program, which allowed growth and development of the players," Lombardi wrote. "This is the formula we intend to use by signing a large high school class. There must be a blend of old and new which provides short and long-term answers.”

In Lombardi's first season as Carolina GM, he has struggled at football's most important position. Belichick and Lombardi were able to retain quarterbacks Max Johnson, who suffered a broken leg in 2024, and Bryce Baker, a four-star high school recruit from Kernersville, NC. They landed Ryan Browne in the transfer portal from Purdue. According to sources, Browne was asked to leave after spring practice. Lombardi tried to rescind Browne's NIL money. According to sources, Browne got a lawyer involved and reached a settlement.

Former South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez transferred to UNC after the spring. He was named the team's starter and is making $2 million this season, according to sources. In four games, Lopez threw for 430 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He was injured in the second half of the UCF game. Johnson started versus Clemson. According to sources, Johnson hasn't been making any NIL money from UNC.

One of Belichick's selling points when he was hired was preparing players for the NFL. Parents and players have been complimentary of Belichick's actual coaching acumen and the increased strength and conditioning they've seen from workouts and nutrition. But parents have been frustrated by Belichick's decision to ban New England Patriots scouts from the UNC facilities. After the Charlotte game, Belichick confirmed reports that he banned the Patriots in response to the Patriots banning him.

"It's clear I'm not welcome there at their facility. So, they're not welcome at ours," Belichick said.

After Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft agreed to mutually part ways in January 2024, no NFL teams offered a job to Belichick, according to reports. The six-time Super Bowl champion interviewed for but did not receive any NFL head coaching jobs. UNC's lack of discipline on the field and divisiveness off it show a glimpse as to why.

"The disconnect comes from this is not NFL," a source said. "There are certain ways to operate in the NFL that you can't do in college."

The points of division are small, but the feeling among sources is that the little has become big. Things like the non-travel roster are not getting to dress in uniform at home games. Former UNC quarterback Bryn Renner, who played for the Tar Heels from 2009-2013, said he'd seen that done with practice squad players in the NFL, but not in college football.

"I think part of the tradition and in part of college sports is you are involved with a team at a high level, and game days are special, and you don't know how many you're going to get," Renner said. "Sometimes these kids are only going to put on a Carolina uniform that Saturday. And you've got to think about that. And I just have never seen it. I think it's really good for morale."

According to sources, another example of a lack of unity is that some players are selling their spare tickets for cash instead of sharing with other players and their families like UNC has done in the past.

Preaching patience

WRAL talked to a source on the UNC football staff who said they did not believe the locker room was divided or that the staff was dysfunctional.

Renner said that the players need to be held accountable for their play as well.

"I think there's a lot of guys looking around and seeing who, who's going to lead," Renner told WRAL. "When you when you create a roster with 70 guys that are coming from all different areas, and you really haven't had time to mesh and gel, it's hard to hold somebody accountable that you don't know, and I think that's the biggest thing."

"At a certain point, the players have to go and make plays, and they're accountable for what happens on the field. The coaches can't go play," Renner continued.

Last week, UNC chancellor Lee Roberts preached patience at a Board of Trustees meeting before the Clemson loss.

"It's not the kind of thing that we judge after four games or even after one season,” Roberts said. ”These things take time. We last won the conference championship in 1980, and so we have significant work to do, significant investment to make to get the program where we want it to be."

”A minimum level of patience is required for any level of future success,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees chair Malcolm Turner, a former athletics director at Vanderbilt. ”I appreciate the need and desire for instant gratification, but it takes time to create success."

Even after the Clemson loss, the feeling within the UNC athletic department remains the same. Given the investment made in Belichick, patience is the path, but they also understand that they hired Belichick knowing he didn't have college experience. They would like to help and support the coaches and players, but the staff needs to be open to that help as well. According to Belichick's contract, the buyout would be $20 million at the end of this year.

At 73 years old, time at UNC was never on Belichick's side. After a 38-10 loss to Clemson, Belichick and the Tar Heels have been outscored 120-33 versus power four teams.

"It's a lack of concentration," he said, "and part of that is coaching, too, so I'll take my share of the responsibility."

After the loss to Clemson, Belichick was asked what he has to say to fans and donors who feel they aren't getting their money's worth.

"We're going to keep working and grinding," Belichick said. "We're going to move on the right track."

Click here to read article