North Carolina football GM maintains Bill Belichick will stay at school, says NFL can get too political
North Carolina Tar Heels football general manager Michael Lombardi doubled down on the position that Bill Belichick has no intention of leaving the program for the NFL.
Belichick had been rumored to be interested in a few NFL jobs that opened up weeks after he decided to jump to the collegiate ranks for the first time in his career. Belichick replaced Mack Brown as the head coach at North Carolina after decades with the New England Patriots.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Lombardi, who joined Belichick at the program, had expressed multiple times that Belichick would not be leaving the Tar Heels. He made the proclamation again in an interview on Monday on OutKick’s "The Ricky Cobb Show."
"I think one thing everyone could agree on, whether you’re a fan of what Bill did in New England or you were a foe because he beat you in New England, the one thing we can all agree on is Bill’s really smart," he said. "Bill knows the landscape of the NFL better than most fans do. And if Bill thought there was a job out there that was enticing to him, he would not have made the move to North Carolina.
"He wasn’t looking for a job. He wasn’t collecting unemployment. He wasn’t hoping for someone to hire him. He knew there was great opportunities if he wanted to go into the NFL. What we also knew was the NFL is a slippery slope in the sense that there’s a lot of politicalness that goes on. You’re answering to a lot of different people, there’s an agenda within buildings."
Lombardi used a line from one of the greatest NFL head coaches of all time to describe why Belichick wouldn’t go back to the NFL.
DALLAS COWBOYS NEXT HEAD COACH ODDS: WHO WILL REPLACE MIKE MCCARTHY?
"Bill Walsh told me in 1984 when there were 28 teams in the National Football League, ‘You know, we’re only competing against eight teams here kid.’ He was right then and he was right today," he said. "And I think that line right there sums up why Bill’s at North Carolina. Not all teams are built to win.
"Not all teams are chasing the Super Bowl. Not all teams want to do it. They want to win their way, not the right way. I think that’s why North Carolina became so appealing to him, because we can build a program here the right way."
Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, also maintained that the 72-year-old head coach would stay in Carolina blue.
"Pictured: two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball," she wrote as the caption in an Instagram photo.
Belichick has been on the recruiting trail in recent weeks and landed a top defensive transfer earlier this month.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.