North Carolina’s continued support, full or not, of coach Bill Belichick it comes with expectations. One of those expectations will be that he doesn’t hire a friend or family member to be the program’s next GM.
Following the resignations of GM Mike Lombardi and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick amid an investigation into various as-yet-unspecified improprieties within the program, UNC is searching for a new General Manager. And the program isn’t letting Belichick just bring in someone he’s already comfortable with.
Via Brian Murphy of WRAL, North Carolina has hired Sean Magee of Turnkey ZRG to help with research to replace Lombardi.
Magee was previously the GM at Michigan, and he has a degree from Navy. That could make Belichick inclined to partner with Magee, given Belichick’s affinity for the Naval Academy. (His father was a longtime scout there, and it was a moth-eaten Navy sweatshirt Belichick wore to the 2025 CBS softball interview that Belichick and his handler treated as music to the chin.)
“I am truly looking forward to working with Sean, given his many years of high-level leadership experience in both professional and collegiate football,” Belichick said in a statement.
In light of Belichick’s tenuous status in Chapel Hill, the job may not be desirable. Unless the program hires someone who sees it as an opportunity to help shape the direction of the program without Belichick in 2027.
Either way, the clock is ticking. Recruiting never ends, and the Tar Heels have gone more than two months without a GM on the job, as Lombardi was placed on paid leave before he abruptly decided to quit.
Even if Belichick isn’t fired, he may decide after the dust settles in the 2026 season that he, too, has had enough. The investigation, which at one point seemed to be looking for anything it could find to justify firing the coach without pay, may have prompted Belichick to react to the investigation that took both his caretaker and his son by treating the current season as his final ride with the Tar Heels.
