North Carolina’s Investigation Is Over. Bill Belichick’s On-Field Problems Aren’t.

This week brought closure to some of the chaos around the North Carolina football program. An investigation into conduct within the program, which followed troubling reports by WRAL of drug use and inappropriate sexual relationships within the program, ended with two high-profile resignations: general manager Michael Lombardi and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, two figures extremely close to head coach Bill Belichick.

That brings an end to an ugly chapter for the Tar Heels, who’ve been anything but disciplined and buttoned up since the legendary former New England Patriots coach took over the program ahead of the 2025 season. Even amid the investigation, the start to his second campaign in Chapel Hill brought serious signs of progress. Saturday’s 28–20 loss at Clemson—a game bifurcated by a 2.5-hour lightning delay—dampened those positive feelings.

North Carolina went up 14–3 early, scoring touchdowns on its first two drives of the game. The Tar Heels settled for just two field goals the rest of the way, the second of which in many ways became the defining play. With second-and-goal at the Clemson 7-yard line and the Tar Heels leading 17–15, lightning in the area forced the lengthy delay. When the team returned to the field, North Carolina running back Demon June was stopped for a three-yard gain and then stuffed for no yards on back-to-back carries, setting up a 22-yard field goal by Aeron Burrell to push the Heels’ lead to 20–15.

It was a meaningful stop for the Tigers, who had already clawed their way back into the game by the early fourth quarter. From that point on, the game was all Clemson, as young quarterback Tait Reynolds led back-to-back touchdown drives to give his team a 28–20 lead. Billy Edwards Jr., who had his worst game as a Tar Heel after a promising start to the season, threw a bad interception to seal the game.

The game was a major step back for Edwards, who was just 13 for 30 for 135 yards, one touchdown and that interception, the second major misfire to end a crucial drive after he forced a bad downfield pass on fourth-and-1 for a turnover on downs a possession earlier. The rushing attack fared better, with 214 yards and 5.5 yards per carry, but came up short when Carolina had a chance to stem the tide. It is fair to say that the program has taken a step forward this season, but after a Week 1 win over TCU in Ireland, that looked more like a leap.

Now, after a loss at a desperate Clemson squad with its own embattled legend pacing the sideline, the Tar Heels have no margin for error if they want to reach a bowl game.

North Carolina is on bye next week before an Oct. 3 home date against one of the best teams in the country, Notre Dame. October continues in truly brutal fashion—at Pitt, at Duke, vs. Syracuse and vs. Miami. The struggling Orange are almost certainly the only team in that group that the Tar Heels will be favored against; Pitt has been solid and Duke has had an excellent start to the season behind a running back generating Heisman buzz in Nate Sheppard.

The November schedule is as follows: at UConn, vs. Louisville, at Virginia, vs. NC State.

Even assuming Belichick’s squad holds serve against Syracuse, UConn and NC State—and none of those games are certain wins by any stretch—they need to find one more win, either on the road against Pitt or Duke, against an ACC title contender (Miami, Louisville, Virginia) or at home against a potential College Football Playoff team in Notre Dame.

Stranger things have happened, but beating a down Clemson was extremely important for North Carolina to have a realistic path to a postseason appearance. Without one, Chapel Bill’s future in Chapel Hill should be in serious doubt.

Bill Belichick’s tenure at North Carolina has been filled with off-field drama and scandal

In terms of pure on-field results, the Belichick hire hasn’t paid dividends—and that is without counting the embarrassment that it has brought in two years. A coach whose famous mantra, “Do your job,” is a screed against the dreaded “distraction” brought his own circus to town last year.

Before Belichick had coached a game, the dysfunction within his program led to a report by Pablo Torre Finds Out that the coach’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, had been banned from North Carolina’s facilities, forcing a denial from the program and leading to Hudson, this past offseason, filing FOIA requests with the school over the situation.

Lombardi, who was identified by Torre as one who was telling others that Hudson was being barred from the facilities, failed in his duties as GM in Year 1, fielding one of the ACC’s least-talented rosters after hyping up the program as “the 33rd NFL team.” He also evidently failed in his other duties as he was placed on administrative leave in July following a human resources complaint, and later resigned. Around the same time, Torre reported that the program was subject to an investigation by the College Sports Commission.

UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi at a press conference. — UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi resigned in September after being placed on administrative leave over a reported human resources complaint. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Steve Belichick, the head coach’s eldest son and the Tar Heels’ former defensive coordinator, stepped away from the program ahead of its opener against TCU on medical leave. He is resigning as well, alongside the end of the school’s internal investigation, effective Oct. 27. In early September, WRAL reported that the attorneys conducting the investigation questioned witnesses “whether defensive coordinator Steve Belichick used drugs on the job or provided drugs to at least one player.”

Steve Belichick’s wife, Jen, released a statement to ESPN on behalf of the family, citing the existence of “misinformation and speculation about our own situation.”

“We believe prioritizing health as the most important thing you can do in this life and is invaluable compared to anything else,” the statement continued.

When asked directly by WRAL about the allegations against Belichick, investigator Nate Huff of the law firm Barnes & Thornburg would not confirm, though he did acknowledge that the use of drugs was a focus of the investigation.

“I’ll tell you what I can about that,” Huff said. “Drug use was an issue that we investigated—and I’m not able to tell you about specific individuals and evidence as to specific individuals without ticking over a line into opening a door on my attorney-client privilege. ... Among the category of issues that we looked at, included allegations related to drugs. And I investigated those allegations consistent with the way I described earlier in [this briefing]. University leadership can consider and make decisions about what, if any, corrective actions need to be made.”

Asked whether Bill Belichick was running a program that complied with school and NCAA rules, Huff did not answer directly, but said that the head coach was fully cooperative with the investigation.

“Coach Belichick made himself and his staff and his building available to me,” Huff said. “I was able to complete my work thoroughly and independently. I had full run of that facility and the people I needed to do my work. I was able to do that thoroughly, and I’ve made my recommendations and findings available to my client. I can’t person by person tell you what I found.”

Bill Belichick declined comment about his son’s departure twice during Saturday’s postgame news conference.

Realistically, if Belichick was at the center of a chaotic but successful program, many would look the other way—even given the severity of many of the issues that have pervaded his program. If he oversaw an unsuccessful program, but it didn’t come along with these myriad issues, there would be a larger appetite for letting the coaching legend adjust to the college game. Right now, North Carolina is getting the worst of all worlds from the Belichick regime, even if he wasn’t directly implicated in the school’s investigation.

Barring a finish to the 2026 season that features at least one significant upset and a bowl bid, it is hard to see the powers that be having the desire to let this experiment continue into 2027.

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