North Carolina confirms "Hard Knocks" interest in Bill Belichick's first season

Bill Belichick taking the North Carolina head coaching position stunned the college football world, and his next decision at the program could be another shocker.

Belichick and the Tar Heels program could be chosen to participate in HBO’s forthcoming “Hard Knocks: Offseason” football series, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi said.

“There’s a lot of conversations going on right now about that,” Lombardi said in comments to The Pat McAfee Show.

“We’ve had a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program and kind of do the behind-the-scenes things, but I don’t think anything’s yet been official or signed.”

Lombardi was asked about a Front Office Sports report that North Carolina was in line to be featured on the program that debuted last year as a spin-off of the “Hard Knocks” series.

If so, it would mark the first time that “Hard Knocks” would be embedded with a college football program, and there’s arguably no other team that would warrant such interest.

Belichick’s arrival at North Carolina was a bombshell that surprised college football, as the former eight-time Super Bowl champion declared his intention to remake the program in the image of an NFL organization.

“Hard Knocks” expanded its series to show not only football teams taking part in training camp, but following them during the season and in the offseason, as well.

A year ago, the New York Giants were the subject of the first offseason version of the program, at a momentous time in that franchise’s history.

HBO cameras were present to witness the Giants’ decision to not re-sign star back Saquon Barkley and included in-house conversations around quarterback Daniel Jones, as well as the team’s strategic approach to the NFL Draft.

Airing such intimate developments from inside a football organization led to some media speculation that the show would be short-lived, as programs would not be inclined to give access to their internal deliberations.

But it appears North Carolina feels the exposure could be beneficial to the football program as it looks to build a foundation early in Belichick’s tenure.

“There’s not many times you can have the greatest coach of all time take you into a meeting,” Lombardi said.

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