A source within the UNC football program doesn’t have faith in the professional potential of the current Tar Heels, per comments made amid The Athletic’s thorough breakdown behind the significant on-field struggles that head coach Bill Belichick’s team has faced.
“We don’t have one pro player on the whole roster,” the source told The Athletic for its piece, which was reported by Bruce Feldman, Brendan Marks and Stewart Mandel.
The 2025 season has featured a nightmarish start to the Belichick era. The eight-time Super Bowl champion has seen his team go 2-3, with a trio of blowout losses to TCU (48-14), UCF (34-9) and Clemson (38-10). UNC’s wins were against Division I-FCS Richmond and a Charlotte team that has gone 0-4 against Division I-FBS competition.
This year’s team saw much turnover from last year’s squad, which went 6-7 overall (3-5 in ACC) in the final year of the Mack Brown era. The Athletic provided more information.
“UNC ultimately brought in 70 new players, including 41 transfers. Nearly 50 players from last year’s 6-7 team went into the portal, including several players who left for schools that made bigger offers, such as pass-rusher Beau Atkinson (Ohio State), linebacker Amare Campbell (Penn State) and nose tackle Travis Shaw (Texas). Several of UNC’s current defensive starters are transfers who had barely played at their previous Power 4 schools.”
Ultimately, it hasn’t worked out at UNC. The Athletic article spoke with sources who claimed that Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi struggled with the transition from pros to college and specifically an understanding of how best to utilize the NIL money.
“Several sources said Belichick and Lombardi had little understanding of the salary structure in college; unlike the NFL, salary numbers aren’t public. Three people said they overspent on some positions while hunting for bargains at others,” The Athletic noted.
“‘Initially, they thought people would flock to play for (Belichick) and take less money,’ a university source told The Athletic, ‘but they realized fast that that wasn’t the case.'”
Some coaches have clearly done better with the transfer portal and NIL than others over the past few years, with some notable examples including Curt Cignetti, who has completely transformed Indiana’s program in short order after arriving in Bloomington from James Madison. Another example is Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who has his Rebels ranked fourth overall in the country.
Sources tell The Athletic that Belichick and Lombardi “needed a crash course” in NIL. The Athletic also noted a tough transition leading to a “chaotic atmosphere” when Belichick was hired last December.
“Two people at the university who interacted with the duo during that time said Belichick and Lombardi needed a crash course on how the college name, image and likeness space worked and revealed that they had no relationships with any players in the portal. For other programs in recent years, previous relationships have proven critical as coaches like Indiana’s Curt Cignetti (hired from James Madison) and Washington’s Jedd Fisch (Arizona) were able to jump-start their rebuilds by persuading several of their key players to make the move with them.
“Belichick and Lombardi said they preferred doing their own evaluations, the sources said, as Mack Brown’s remaining staff prepared for the Fenway Bowl. A since-departed Brown staffer still there at the time described a chaotic atmosphere. Belichick had made only a few hires to that point, and they did not yet have defined roles.”
A report emerged on Wednesday from Ollie Connolly of the Guardian that Belichick and UNC had discussed buyout options.
As for now, Belichick remains the leader of the program, and both he and athletic director Bubba Cunningham expressed seeing this through.
The Tar Heels will look to get back to .500 on Friday, Oct. 17 when they visit Cal.
