Amid another distraction, UNC’s Belichick says program focused on ‘doing things properly’

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina coach Bill Belichick said Monday he believes his program “totally” has an atmosphere of following rules amid a school investigation into conduct within his football program.

“Obviously everybody’s responsible, including me, for doing things properly,” Belichick said. “And we intend to do that.”

Later Monday, a school spokesman issued a statement backing the 74-year-old Belichick, who won six Super Bowl titles with the NFL’s New England Patriots.

“The University continues to support Bill Belichick and the Carolina football program,” said Dean Stoyer, UNC’s vice chancellor for communications.

The Tar Heels were off following their season-opening win against TCU in Ireland on Aug. 29. But during that open week, general manager Michael Lombardi resigned after being put on paid administrative leave in late July amid an investigation by UNC’s Office of University Counsel.

The same day, WRAL of Raleigh cited anonymous sources in reporting the type of questions asked of some interviewees. Some focused on Belichick’s son Steve, the Tar Heels’ defensive coordinator currently on medical leave.

Additionally, Lombardi attorney Tom Mars told The Athletic that the school’s probe now included questions into potential “inappropriate” relationships that didn’t involve his client. Mars hasn’t returned a call or email from The Associated Press regarding that comment.

Two people with knowledge of the situation had previously told the AP that a human resources complaint from a former employee was tied to Lombardi originally being placed on leave as the investigation launched. They spoke at the time on condition of anonymity because the school wasn’t publicly discussing case details, with UNC saying employees and athletes weren’t permitted to discuss the topic “as is standard procedure with personnel matters.”

Those developments have only added to a year’s worth of unwanted headlines off the field to go with shaky play on it under Belichick.

By Monday, reporters spent roughly the first 13 minutes of Belichick’s 20-minute game week news conference asking questions that had nothing to do with Saturday’s upcoming home debut against East Tennessee State.

That included whether his program had an atmosphere of rule compliance and if Belichick had “control” over the program.

“If you’re around here every day, I think you’d see it,” Belichick said.

Belichick was also asked whether he had spoken to chancellor Lee Roberts and athletic director Steve Newmark about his job security. He responded by looking ahead to the ETSU game, though he later elaborated more on his relationship with school officials when asked whether they had asked him to change anything in running the program.

“They’ve been very supportive, a great working relationship with those people,” he said. “In the end, look, we want to run the program in the very best way. And if there’s things we need to do to correct it, then we’ll obviously do them.”

The Tar Heels tallied more losses by double-digit margins (five) than wins (four) in Belichick’s debut season, along with distractions such as an assistant coach being briefly suspended for violating NCAA rules. Belichick said in July he had hoped lessons learned would lead to more success in Year 2.

The Tar Heels got that with the 15-10 win against TCU after losing to the Horned Frogs by 34 in Belichick’s UNC debut. But the past week take some glow off that victory.

“We’re so focused on everything internal and getting better on the field and getting better in the meeting room that we could care less about what we see in the headlines or what’s on the news,” running back Benjamin Hall said. “It’s not going to affect this team.”

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