Michael Lombardi already setting lofty expectations for UNC, Bill Belichick

North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi sure is adding pressure to Bill Belichick before he’s even coached a game. Lombardi claimed the Tar Heels’ goal is to be the NFL’s 33rd team. 

At first it sounds like an outrageous statement. But when you think about it, college athletics is trending toward being the “G-League” version for the NFL. It seems UNC wants to take it step further. 

It also isn’t an odd statement when you think about the fact that North Carolina is essentially running their team like an NFL team. According to Rodd Baxley of the Fayetteville Observer, while the coaching staff hasn’t officially been released, it’s been clear the Tar Heels were taking a non-tradition approach to a new era. 

Bill Belichick said during his introductory press conference that he was going to build UNC closer to an NFL team than a college team. Lombardi’s statement, then, is right in line with Belichick’s vision for his new adventure. 

That does, however, unnecessarily put some pressure on Belichick to dominate. He has the secret weapon of winning multiple Super Bowls. By that logic, he should have no problem replicating that success in college. 

Bill Belichick under enormous pressure to succeed right away at UNC, even if no one wants to talk about it

Everybody is tip-toeing around it, but Belichick is actually under enormous pressure to win right away at UNC. While he’s never coached in college before, he’s coaching in college during an era where the NCAA is closer to a developmental league than it is an amateur and academic based league. 

Belichick knows how to survive in a numbers world of football. He’s used to “salary caps”, players with egos because of the pay check that hits their direct deposit every week and the players having more control over the team than the coaches – though the latter might not be prevalent in college football yet. 

But the fact is, UNC is far from being the crown jewel of college football. They’re already slipping as the crown jewel of college basketball. Belichick has a monstrous mountain to climb to even be in the conversation of leading UNC to college football glory. 

He doesn’t have the luxury of not winning right away. With the ACC down, this is the perfect opportunity to carve out his legacy in college football with a team on the cusp of getting over the hump of mediocrity. 

What if it takes him longer than one season, even two seasons, to get the results he promised and the athletic department expects? Hiring Belichick was always going to be a risk. But it’s something the administration has to be patient with. 

Putting a lot of expectations year one is going to implode this program before it ever gets a chance to grow.