North Carolina Accused of 'Dysfunctional' Recruiting Visits

The North Carolina Tar Heels became the subject of unfortunate headlines last week when the school revealed general manager Michael Lombardi was being placed on paid administrative leave.

At a price tag of $1,510,000 per year, Lombardi is the highest-paid general manager in college football.

Amid questions about Lombardi's future with the program, it's fair to wonder how he's managed UNC since he got to Chapel Hill. Certainly, things got off to a bumpy start in 2025, as the team finished with a 4-8 record. 

There was chatter that North Carolina failed to recruit enough Power 4-caliber players last year, something new head coach Bill Belichick doesn't think will be an issue this year. 

During his show on Sunday night, Josh Pate suggested that there is still dysfunction in North Carolina's recruiting process, noting that he's heard the program is "unorganized" during recruiting visits.

"I was talking to someone pretty important in the media world, who has a kid who had toured some of the schools, and he had toured North Carolina, and he had also toured some of the other big-time schools, and he was just talking about how dysfunctional the visit was in North Carolina," Pate said. 

"How unorganized the visit was, compared to these other places, and the way he summarized it so perfectly fits what pretty much everyone has heard, who knows anyone in North Carolina, and it is, they almost acted like it was doing you a favor to have you there, even though they're supposed to be the one trying to recruit you and convince you to play for them.”

That's not promising for the future under Lombardi and Belichick. 

Per 247Sports, UNC is currently No. 42 in recruiting for the 2027 class.

Pate isn't sure the situation at UNC is salvageable for Belichick.

"So North Carolina football is in a state of disrepair right now," Pate said. "Most predictable thing in the world. There's a new athletic director in charge, Steve Newmark, who inherited this.

"It won't be his mess for long, but it is a mess right now. He does have to clean it up." 

That could mean making changes to the staff at UNC.