UNC’s Michael Lombardi confirms talks amid Hard Knocks link
North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi acknowledged that the program, under new coach Bill Belichick, is considering a behind-the-scenes look at the team amid a report that the Tar Heels could be the focus of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason.”
“There’s a lot of conversations going on right now about that,” Lombardi said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. “We’ve had a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program and kind of do the behind-the-scenes things, but I don’t think anything’s yet been official or signed.”
Lombardi was asked about a Front Office Sports report that North Carolina would be featured on the show that debuted last year with the New York Giants and is an offshoot of long-running HBO series “Hard Knocks.” He said it would be a university decision but added that “Hard Knocks” does an “incredible job.”
Belichick was hired as North Carolina coach in December for his first foray into the college ranks, and he brought on Lombardi to serve as the team’s general manager.
Lombardi said the possibility of getting a look at how Belichick runs the team would be compelling.
“There’s not many times you can have the greatest coach of all time take you into a meeting,” Lombardi said.
Belichick never took part in “Hard Knocks” during his NFL coaching career, as the New England Patriots were never selected for the program, which debuted in 2001.
According to Front Office Sports, North Carolina was chosen, in part, due to reluctance from NFL teams to participate in the offseason version of the show after the Giants drew scrutiny due largely to revelations related to their decision not to re-sign running back Saquon Barkley.
“If you’re doing ‘Hard Knocks,’ you’ve gotta really be able to teach a class … on how this all happens,” Lombardi said.
Kirk Herbstreit goes off on players appearing to fake injuries against tempo offenses after Oklahoma’s Da’Jon Terry seems to do just that. (0:26)
College football teams could soon be charged with a timeout or a penalty for players faking injuries well after plays during games.
The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a timeout to be charged whenever medical personnel enter the field to evaluate players after the ball has been spotted for the ensuing play. Teams without timeouts would be assessed a five-yard delay-of-game penalty for each instance. The proposal is among several that will go back to schools and then go before the NCAA’s playing rules oversight panel for possible approval in April.
Faking injuries has become a significant topic in recent years, with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and others admonishing the practice. The SEC implemented guidelines that included fines and potential suspensions for coaches whose players repeatedly fake injuries. The American Football Coaches Association had proposed requiring any players who need medical attention to miss an entire possession, rather than only one play, but the rules committee instead proposed losing timeouts.
“If we have a player that’s struggling and the official stops the clock to get that player out, we will not invoke the timeout,” said Steve Shaw, the secretary-rules editor for football and the SEC and Sun Belt’s coordinator of football officials. “There’s these plays where the ball’s down, the defense is still trying to get to their side of the ball and a player falls down. Those are the types of plays that we don’t want, that we think is a bad look, and we think this rule will address it.”
Shaw reiterated that legitimately injured players should stay down and require a stoppage to receive medical attention. But many of the suspicious instances occurred after the ball was spotted for the next play.
“Coaches value their timeouts incredibly,” Shaw said. “Making this a timeout, if a player were to wait and then go down very late, the coaches would really be against unless you’re really injured, and then they may have needed a timeout anyway.”
The rules committee also proposed limiting timeouts in games that reach third overtime periods or longer. Teams currently have a timeout for each overtime period, but the proposal would limit them to one total timeout after the second OT. The Georgia-Georgia Tech regular-season finale in November, which spanned eight overtime periods, included three timeouts after the second session, all before two-point conversion attempts.
“We didn’t want to create a situation where the offense goes out, looks at the defense, calls timeout, then they get back out there, the defense calls time out,” Shaw said. “You see that in basketball a lot of time. That just prolongs the game. We said, ‘We’re going to give everybody a timeout.’ We’ll continue to monitor it.”
The overtime timeouts proposal was among several that could be tied to recent high-profile incidents. Others include a proposal that would allow offenses to reset the game clock within two minutes of each half when a defense commits a penalty for too many men on the field and participates in the play.
Oregon received a 12-men-on-the-field penalty at the end of an Oct. 12 game against Ohio State, which resulted in a penalty but also removed four valuable seconds from the clock. Trailing 32-31, Ohio State tried to get closer for a field goal attempt, but the clock expired on the ensuing play, giving Oregon the win. The NCAA soon issued a new rules interpretation that seemingly closed the loophole and is in line with the latest rules committee proposal.
Another proposal would whistle kickoff returns dead any time the return team makes a “T” signal with its arms. The situation surfaced in the Citrus Bowl between Illinois and South Carolina, leading to a testy on-field exchange between coaches Bret Bielema and Shane Beamer.
“We don’t want to try to guess on where trends may be going,” said A.J. Edds, co-chair of the rules committee and vice president of football for the Big Ten. “We want to take real information and cite real instances to help inform perspectives before the committee collectively evaluates and potentially takes action. But not unlike other leagues, when something comes to light, whether it’s a play or a series of play or instances of plays, if there’s a way to improve the way that they’re officiated … that’s certainly at the forefront and the crux of all of our conversation.”
Other proposals included referees only using the terms “upheld” or overturned” to describe replay rulings, rather than “confirmed” or “stands,” and the adoption of coach-to-player helmet communication for FCS teams after a successful first year in the FBS.
The rules committee had extensive discussions about targeting fouls and made a recommendation to the conference commissioners on College Football Officiating’s board of managers. But Shaw noted that the targeting rule as it’s defined — and whether to disqualify offenders or overturn — will not change.
“The targeting rule has served us very well,” Shaw said. “We had the lowest number of disqualifications, 0.14 targeting fouls enforced per game this year. I know fans think there’s one in every game, but there’s just not, so we’re going in the right direction. There was no back-away from targeting at all.”
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Source: UNC to hire Brian Belichick as assistant
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The offseason version of “Hard Knocks” will go in a different direction for its second year. According to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, the HBO show will not feature an NFL team, but instead will follow Bill Belichick and the University of North Carolina football team during his first season leading the program.
UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday and said that the program is considering appearing on “Hard Knocks.”
“There’s a lot of conversations going on right now about that,” Lombardi said. “We’ve had a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program and kind of do the behind-the-scenes things, but I don’t think anything’s yet been official or signed.”
Per Glasspiegel, NFL Films was unsuccessful in finding an NFL team that wanted to be featured on the show. Last summer, the New York Giants were the focus and it could not have gone any worse for the franchise as viewers got to see inside the building as they lost running back Saquon Barkley in free agency to their NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen told reporters at the NFL scouting combine this week that no teams asked him about the experience being on the show.
“I think I know what I would tell them” Schoen joked.
Belichick was hired by the Tar Heels in December after he spent the 2024 season in various media jobs after parting ways with New England Patriots following 24 seasons in charge.
The Patriots were never featured on “Hard Knocks” during Belichick’s time in New England.
NFL Films reportedly could not find an NFL team that wanted to participate
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Report: Bill Belichick, UNC to appear on offseason Hard Knocks
In 24 years as the Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick never appeared on a season of HBO’s Hard Knocks.
That drought will reportedly come to an end in his first year as a college head coach. Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reports that the University of North Carolina will be the featured team on this year’s offseason version of the show.
Glasspiegel adds that NFL Films turned to the school because they could not find an NFL team willing to take part.
Previous versions of the show had cameras following teams during training camp and in-season, but 2024 brought the first look at a team going through free agency and the draft. The Giants were the featured team and their stint will be best remembered for General Manager Joe Schoen explaining to team co-owner John Mara why he wouldn’t re-sign Saquon Barkley as a free agent. Mara told Schoen how much it would bother him if Barkley signed with the Eagles, which is exactly what happened and Mara had to watch the former Giant win the Super Bowl.
The desire to avoid something similar likely contributed to the lack of interest from NFL teams, but the prospect of going behind the scenes as Belichick prepares for his first season as a college coach makes for a pretty good alternative for the series.
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