Report: North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi went fundraising in Saudi Arabia

It's clear by this point that the Bill Belichick experiment at North Carolina is going to fail, the only questions are the nature in which it fails and how long the failure is permitted to continue.

A telltale sign of failure was when Belichick began the week by refuting reports that he and/or North Carolina would pull the plug just six games into a 5-year contract. Belichick will join the Tar Heels for their trip to Cal for Friday night's game and beyond, which means the near-daily drip of stories out of Chapel Hill will continue for the foreseeable future. Typically, those stories involve one prominent character: GM Michael Lombardi. 

The latest comes from Pablo Torre, the former ESPN writer-turned-podcast host who tweeted on Thursday that on Friday he'll drop an episode that includes, among other things, reporting on Lombardi's preseason trip to Saudi Arabia to fundraise for the Tar Heels.

This summer, Torre reported on how Belichick met Jordan Hudson, as well as a very college football scandal of Kawhi Leonard allegedly taking a no-show job with an LA Clippers sponsor.

Lombardi would not be the first person affiliated with college football seeking riches in the Middle East. A former Colorado special teams analyst financed his own trip to Saudi Arabia in December 2023 in hopes of landing a sponsorship agreement with CU's collective. The collective and CU football disavowed their association with the trip, and the analyst later resigned. 

Lombardi, who is believed to be the highest-paid general manager in college football despite having little-to-no experience in college football and not working in football for nearly a decade prior to his hiring, has been pinpointed as a source of friction within the UNC program. The Athletic spoke to an agent who told the outlet: 

One who took his client on a visit there said Lombardi told him, “We don’t fall in love (with players)” and, “gave me the sales pitch about why would you say no to Bill Belichick?” Another said Lombardi made a strong initial offer for his client, then lowered it considerably over a subsequent series of calls: “He made it impossible to get a deal done because at some point, I’m being a bad agent for my client.”

Last week, WRAL wrote of Lombardi: 

Belichick will say "hi" when he sees players in the building. His GM, Michael Lombardi, has been described by multiple sources as "rude" and "nasty." 

"Nobody likes him."

Still, Lombardi has taken a front-facing role in Belichick's organization. Late last month, FootballScoop exclusively reported on a lengthy letter Lombardi penned to donors pledging patience in their rebuild of a team that went 6-7 the year prior. As Lombardi wrote: 

Having our most ardent supporters committed and believing in our rebuilding plan will help shape the narrative around our program—which will help us rebuild and restore this program. Peter Drucker once said, “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” We are committed to making UNC football an elite program and want to share the plan we have in place to ensure it occurs.

How much of that pitch did the royal investment fund of Saudi Arabia get? We'll find out Friday.