UNC Football Catch-all | Bill Belichick Era underway

[Calheel]

Thaddeus Dixon and Khomari house the superstars-getting multiple wreckless driving tickets House has a bad ass Dodge Charger -NIL no doubt

wreckless driving?

Isn't that what you are supposed to do when you drive?

 

[gtyellowjacket]

I don’t even think it’s a question that Kitchens will be gone after this season. I just worry that instead of trying to find a proven college OC, Belichick will end up sticking with the theme and bring in a retread NFL play caller.

We hired Al Groh as DC when he got fired from uva. He had won a Superbowl with Bill Parcells and was head coach of the Jets for a bit. Everyone thought he was a brilliant defensive mind and we were lucky to get him.

And we were absolutely terrible under him. The knock His scheme was too complicated for college kids although he won a couple of ACC coach of the year at UVA so maybe our kids were just not capable of picking it up.

 

[CFordUNC]

We hired Al Groh as DC when he got fired from uva. He had won a Superbowl with Bill Parcells and was head coach of the Jets for a bit. Everyone thought he was a brilliant defensive mind and we were lucky to get him.

And we were absolutely terrible under him. The knock His scheme was too complicated for college kids although he won a couple of ACC coach of the year at UVA so maybe our kids were just not capable of picking it up.

I don’t know, those Georgia Tech kids are pretty dang smart. One of my brothers-in-law was a mechanical engineering alum at Tech around that similar timeframe and said he had several football players in his courses and in group projects and they were all surprisingly brilliant, including a prominent household name.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

I don’t know, those Georgia Tech kids are pretty dang smart. One of my brothers-in-law was a mechanical engineering alum at Tech around that similar timeframe and said he had several football players in his courses and in group projects and they were all surprisingly brilliant, including a prominent household name.

Yeah. I'm just kidding. They were all smart enough for legit college courses or they got moved along. Most were management majors but I was always really impressed with the TV athletes that were taking engineering courses.

But that was the knock on Groh. His scheme was too complicated for our kids.

 

[CFordUNC]

Yeah. I'm just kidding. They were all smart enough for legit college courses or they got moved along. Most were management majors but I was always really impressed with the TV athletes that were taking engineering courses.

But that was the knock on Groh. His scheme was too complicated for our kids.

Oh yeah, that is definitely a common theme when guys with predominantly NFL pedigrees come to the college ranks. It was true with Charlie Weiss, Al Groh, Bill O’Brien, Lovie Smith, and Herm Edwards. For whatever reason, those guys do not grasp that the time limit restrictions, practice limitations, film study limitations, etc. that do not exist in the professional ranks but certainly exist in the collegiate ranks, make it really difficult for college players to master NFL play calling and schematics. It was actually really interesting, I had two different coaches UNC, one who had coached in the NFL and brought a very distinct NFL style to the program, and the other who was exclusively a collegiate coach. I was one of the signal callers and it is incredible the difference in the complexity in NFL style play calling, concepts, and terminology versus college. The play sheet that I had from the NFL oriented coaching staff read like Latin compared to the college oriented staff’s.

 

[Zoo_View]

A program’s all time raw win % is a mostly useless data point. The sport has changed way too much over the years for that number to mean anything. 7 wins in 2025 is not the same thing at all compared to 7 wins in 1985 or 1965, and so on.

In the context of this season where we have one of the weakest schedules in the country and a top 10 paid coaching staff, 6-6 should be considered an absolute bare minimum achievement.

6-6 should be considered sucking.

 

[Zoo_View]

We'll be pretty good next year I think. I have confidence in the defensive coaching and we can't be any worse in terms of offensive skill positions. We have Baker coming in at QB and we should be able to pick up a few WR in the portal.

If you’re a potentially good WR wanting to boost your profile and draft status and college money, why come to UNC with a questionable OC, offensive game plan, QB, and OL? Not parts of the OL. The entire OL.

 

[Geisterfahrer]

i don't think there's a football fan in the country that's satisfied with their team's offensive line.

UNC's has been absolutely fine this year. they had a really bad game against Clemson but otherwise, it's been Gio making them look bad by being one of the slowest quarterbacks in the country from snap to release. they're certainly nowhere near bad enough to be worried they'd mess with a young quarterback's development.

reminds me of the conversation around the patriots and Maye last year. their OL was, comparatively, much worse than this one, but he started 13 games behind it anyways and now he's an MVP candidate.

I bet Ohio States pretty satisfied with their O line. Blaming UNC sucking (“absolutely fine”?!) entirely on Gio is just … makes me want to go all Zoo_View on you.

 

[Zoo_View]

so we are more likely to go 4-8 vs 6-6...

But should we finish 6-6 it would mean we beat our 2 biggest rivals, have a chance at finishing 7-6, and continue our 100 year history as a 7-5 football program.

That would be a decent season... for us

I remember the good Bill Dooley years, the good Dick Crum years before he pissed off HS coaches across NC and the Tidewater, the good Mack 1.0 years.

We had hope and a shot at awakening the sleeping giant.

I still have hope for that breakthrough….it’s not happening with this staff.

 

[Zoo_View]

Oh yeah, I don't disagree at all. I think he was completely unprepared for the college game and I think his arrogance and hubris won't allow him to even try to understand it. We're going t keep trying to shove square pegs into round holes over and over and over because we have a staff that mistakenly believes that because they've won in the NFL that they can automatically do so against all of the rubes and morons who must comprise the college coaching ranks.

These guys have lost games to Scott Frost, Justin Wilcox, Tony Elliott, and now Jake Dickert this year. They're probably going to lose to Manny Diaz and Dave Doeren.

Did this staff win in the NFL?

Bill Belichick did…..with Tom Brady. In 2020, Big Beautiful Bill was 7-9; 2021 - 10-7; 2022 - 8-9; 2023 - 4-13.

Hall of Fame Bill Belichick isn’t recent Big Beautiful Bill.

Recent Big Beautiful Bill is way worse than subpar. He’s bad.

And, he’s backed by his nepotistic buddy staff.

 

[Zoo_View]

Too soon. Seriously, i don't even want to think about the duke or ncsu games. Their defenses aren't going to be Wake's D, but they're likely to put up points and we're likely to not put up points.

It could be a Steve Spurrier scoreboard.

 

[Zoo_View]

The timeline does not disprove the Chandler Morris story.

Here is the relevant portion of The Athletic (not SI) story concerning Chandler Morris & UNC...

North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris had thrown for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns when he put his name in the transfer portal shortly after the 2024 regular season. Two days later, on Dec. 11, North Carolina announced its hire of Bill Belichick. Morris, now a sixth-year senior, who’d previously played at Oklahoma and TCU, made it known he was interested in coming to play for the six-time Super Bowl champion.

Belichick’s right-hand man, general manager Michael Lombardi, was already making the decisions when it came to overhauling UNC’s roster. He didn’t want Morris, who was about 6-feet, 190 pounds, and did not have the strongest arm. Purdue’s Ryan Browne, a 6-4, 210-pounder who had started two games for a 2-10 Boilers team, better fit the mold he and Belichick were seeking. Lombardi didn’t hold back letting UNC’s personnel staffers, a mix of holdovers and new hires, know why.

“You just don’t understand what it takes to play in the National Football League,” he told staffers, according to a person briefed on the conversation, who, like more than 20 people interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity about their experiences of private conversations and decision-making within the program.

Of course, knowing what it takes to play in the NFL might not be the same thing as knowing what it takes to win college football games, or more specifically, how the more mobile Morris might be a better fit than Browne to navigate behind an overmatched offensive line. Browne transferred to Chapel Hill, but bailed to go back to Purdue later in the spring. Morris signed with Virginia, a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2019, where he’s led the Cavaliers into the AP top 20.

The timeline (all via Google as I don't have IC premium)...

Bill Belichick hired as UNC HC on December 11
Chandler Morris commits to Virginia on December 16
Michael Lombardi hired as UNC GM on December 17

However, let's look closely at what The Athletic article says about Lombardi...

Belichick’s right-hand man, general manager Michael Lombardi, was already making the decisions when it came to overhauling UNC’s roster.

The Athletic is clear that Lombardi was "already making decisions" for Carolina Football, with the wording implying that it was in some "unofficial" capacity. Which would make sense if Lombardi had not been officially hired as Carolina Football.

And from other media, we can easily determine that Lombardi was being presented at the GM of Carolina Football before his official hire date of December 17th, as we have evidence from a wide vareity of sources...

The NY Post on December 11
NBC Sports on December 11

And here he is on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN on December 12th, where he was introduced as Carolina Football's GM.



What is clear from these sources is that Lombardi was by December 11th & 12th already publicly known and acting as Carolina Football's GM.

And, since Lombardi was already publicly known and acting as Carolina Football GM by this time, that means he would have been in a position to comment on Chandler Morris before he committed to Virginia and so the timeline does not disprove The Athletic story.

Michael Lombardi as GM might end up being a worse hire than John Bunting or Nascarl as head coaches.

 

[Zoo_View]

Oh, I don't know. I think it's way too early to predict anything, since teams will also change a lot due to the portal. If UNC is not in the conversation for ACC champs then I'd be disappointed (assuming those things I mentioned were met).

Wait.

You actually think UNC has a shot at the ACC title in 2026?

 

[Zoo_View]

I don’t even think it’s a question that Kitchens will be gone after this season. I just worry that instead of trying to find a proven college OC, Belichick will end up sticking with the theme and bring in a retread NFL play caller.

Does Big Beautiful Bill have a nephew or cousin looking for a job?