North Carolina G.M. Michael Lombardi resigned on Thursday, not long before a sweeping report from WRAL painted an ugly picture of the Tar Heels program. Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, based on that report, could be next.
The eventual target could be coach Bill Belichick, also in a for-cause, you’ll-get-nothing-and-like-it outcome that would wipe out the remainder of his buyout.
Here’s the key portion of the WRAL report, as it relates to accounts from individuals who have been questioned by an external law firm: “[T]he people said they were asked whether they had reported any potentially questionable behavior to Bill Belichick.”
That’s an important potential finding, as it relates to Article 11 of Bill Belichick’s five-year, $50 million deal. The provision sets forth the various ways in which Belichick can be fired for cause.
The key language appears in Article 11(c): “Any action that is (i) taken by Coach or someone supervised by Coach, or (ii) taken at the direction of Coach or someone supervised by Coach, or (iii) known by Coach or someone supervised by Coach and not reported by Coach as required by this Agreement to the Department of Athletics Compliance office by the person supervised by coach, and that results in any material form of disciplinary finding, material action against, or material sanction for the Coach or the Program by the University’s athletics association (e.g. NCAA), athletics conference (e.g. ACC), University, or other regulatory body that exceeds an institutional letter of admonishment or reprimand.” (Emphasis added.)
Given the potentially serious subjects currently under investigation (reportedly including whether Steve Belichick “used drugs on the job or provided drugs to at least one player,” whether an unnamed member of the North Carolina recruiting staff had a sexual relationship with a player, and whether assistant coaches and the recruiting staff engaged in sexual relationships), a finding that Bill Belichick knew about one or more of those matters and failed to report them could provide the basis to fire him for cause, and in turn to cut off his buyout.
The mere existence of the investigation suggests that someone within the UNC power structure may be looking for a reason to fire Belichick for cause. At plenty of schools where the program is winning, the inclination will be to look the other way when evidence of potential violations emerges. Only when management is looking for a way out do the chapters and verses of the contract’s termination provision become a priority.