UNC football general manager Mike Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to a statement released by the school Monday morning.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has placed Michael Lombardi, general manager for the Carolina football program, on paid administrative leave, effective immediately.

As is standard procedure with personnel matters, leadership, staff, and student-athletes are prohibited from addressing this topic further, and has no reflection on the merits.

Lombardi, whose $1.5 million salary makes him the highest-paid general manager in college football, joined the UNC staff prior to the 2025 season as a member of Bill Belichick's coterie of advisors and yes men. Lombardi helped Belichick put together one of the more uninspiring rosters in college football, as the Tar Heels finished 4-8 and didn't beat a single team that finished with five or more wins.

In addition to his contributions to UNC's on-field product, Lombardi found space to get involved in the program's many embarrassing off-field storylines. He started his tenure declaring UNC the "33rd [NFL] team," and then had that quote hung around his neck every time the Tar Heels went out and lost by 17 points. Then came multiple stories about how nobody on campus liked working with him because he is arrogant and dismissive. The most useful thing Lombardi may have done all season was disappear to Riyadh for a few days on a failed fundraising trip.

In Belichick, UNC is paying $10 million per year to a 74-year-old football coach whose primary ability at this point in his career is teaming up with his 25-year-old girlfriend to generate embarrassing headlines. Now they are entering Year 2 of the Belichick project with his hand-picked general manager on mysterious administrative leave. So everything's going great.