North Carolina Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi has joined UNC in a busy offseason. The biggest news around the program came in early December when it was announced that legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick had signed a five-year, $50 million contract to be the next head coach at UNC.
Since then, Lombardi has appeared on several TV shows, podcasts, and talk shows to discuss football and UNC’s future.
Mike Lombardi Discusses His Experience in Chapel Hill Since Taking the GM Job at UNC
Shortly after announcing that Belichick was coming to North Carolina to be the head coach, Lombardi was announced to have accepted the position of GM with the Tar Heels.
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, he spoke about wanting to make UNC’s facility a home for the players, coaching staff, and alumni. He also spoke about how welcome the people of Chapel Hill have made him feel since his arrival.
“First of all, I think the people in Chapel Hill are incredibly friendly, and I don’t say that lightly,” Lombardi said. “I know I’m a New Jersey guy, and we’re used to being treated rudely, but you know, nobody’s honked a horn at me, which is rare.”
“So I think to me, it’s just the graciousness, really the openness that the people have shown here, not that that’s surprising. It’s just really kind of humbling. And I think that there’s a lot of pride in this program, and there’s a lot of pride in this university, and I think our job is to bring it out.”
He went on to speak about wanting to go out of his way to make sure that alumni feel welcome at the facility.
“And I think what we have to do is we have to honor those who’ve come before us — these screens here — that talk about the former players that have been here. That’s not enough. You know, they deserve more than a screen.
“They deserve way more than that because we’ve had so many great players here. So, I think we’re going to have to pay more respect to the greatness of this program. From a football standpoint, we haven’t won the ACC since 1980; we’re all aware of that.”
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With Belichick and Lombardi reuniting in North Carolina after previously coaching together in New England from 2014 to 2016, it will be interesting to see if they can replicate their success.
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