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North Carolina General Manager Mike Lombardi once again called the report on the potential NFL future of UNC coach Bill Belichick fake.
Last week, after NFL Network reported that multiple teams had reached out to inquire if Belichick was interested in leaving Chapel Hill for professional football, Lombardi chalked it up to “Complete falsehoodThis week, after PFT reported that Belichick’s slowly taking shape coaching staff had brought in people from the university to the ACC commissioner. Nervous about Belichick’s plansLombardi spoke back in a tweet.
“We’re not slow, just being diligent, we hired three people on Sunday, not (sic) one stressed out otherwise.” This is wrong report (sic).Lombardi said. “Completely fabricated story (sic). Thank you.”
You’re welcome?
I won’t try to interpret the tweet literally. This is mainly because I’m not sure how much the supposed “wrong” report affects anxiety or any other human emotion. The larger point is that it’s strange that Lombardi has become Belichick’s sole mouthpiece on these matters in recent days.
As former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty said Tuesday BFT LiveBelichick stressed to his players the importance of always speaking for themselves, and not letting anyone else speak for them. Why would Belichick deviate from that approach now, if it was “completely fabricated” that his continued interest in returning to the NFL before the $10 million buyout was down to $1 million, coupled with his delay in hiring his coaching staff fully and completely, would… That makes others skittish about his plans?
Until Belichick redoes his deal to eliminate the buyout or increase it to closer to $100 million, nothing anyone other than Belichick says matters. As long as the buyout clause remains in place, nothing he says will matter — even if he hasn’t said anything since the NFL’s internal media group reported that multiple teams were interested in him.
Some in league circles wonder whether Belichick himself arranged for the NFL Network report to appear as a Hail Mary attempt to try to return to the only level of football at which he has ever coached in a career spanning half a century.
As for the idea that they are “hardworking” and not “slow” in hiring a coaching staff, it has been more than a month. Belichick had to be diligent the entire football season preparing coaches to join him. He certainly doesn’t take applications or hold a job fair. That’s how things work now in football. You hire people you know, or people other members of the staff know. You have. And if he was waiting to hire people currently associated with NFL franchises, 75 percent of the league’s teams would have finished this year.
Lombardi has the right to respond to reports he does not like. His answers assume he really knows what Belichick is thinking. And we assume there’s a chance Lombardi backs down due to the simple fact that if Belichick lands with an NFL team, there may not be a corresponding job for Lombardi out there.
When news first broke that Belichick was considering North Carolina, at least one report indicated that he hoped to put together a succession plan that would give his son, Steve, the job after Bell left. The contract published by the school contains no such term. But if Bell leaves before one spring training session, North Carolina might accept $10 million in cash plus Steph as head coach.
Regardless, and no need to stay put, we stand by our report. There is more smoke than people realize regarding the current state of the program, and regarding Belichick’s current state of mind regarding the question of whether he wants to return to the NFL.
If he wanted to end the story and calm everyone’s nerves, he could tear up his possession clause. Until he does – and until every vacancy is filled by someone other than him – people will watch and wonder if he will take a cocktail napkin and scribble this sentence on it: “I resign as Coordinator-General of the United Nations Command.”
