Michael Lombardi's UNC Contract Buyout Reportedly Revealed as Highest Among CFB GMs

In addition to their deal to bring on Bill Belichick as head coach, North Carolina paid a steep price to hire Michael Lombardi as general manager of the football program.

According to information obtained by USA Today, Lombardi's contract buyout of $3.2 million as of Dec. 1 is approximately $1.2 million higher than any other FBS general manager.

Ohio State's Mark Pantoni and Louisville's Vince Marrow are tied for the second-highest buyout at $2.05 million. Lombardi is also the highest-paid general manager with a total salary of $1.51 million, $610,000 more than Pantoni makes.

Six days after North Carolina officially named Belichick its head coach on Dec. 11, the school announced Lombardi was stepping in as GM. He signed a three-year, $4.5 million deal, per the appointment letter and contract from the university.

The contract does state that Lombardi's buyout would drop from 100 percent of his remaining salary to 50 percent if he were to be fired after Jan. 15, 2026.

There has been a lot of speculation about Belichick's future with the Tar Heels amid a disappointing start to his tenure. The six-time Super Bowl champion head coach has dismissed that talk, calling it "categorically false" on Oct. 13.

Belichick and North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham released separate statements on Oct. 8 reaffirming their commitment to each other.

Lombardi's outlook with North Carolina hasn't been as front and center as Belichick's, but the first season with this regime isn't exactly raising confidence levels that they will be able to turn the program around.

Unlike Belichick, who had no previous experience working at the college level, Lombardi did have a four-year run as a recruiting coordinator at UNLV. Granted, that was from 1981-84 and many things have changed in college athletics since then.

Lombardi had the cache of 26 years working at the NFL level in various roles. He is also closely tied to Belichick dating back to 1991 when they were both working for the Cleveland Browns.

Belichick brought Lombardi to the New England Patriots as an assistant to the coaching staff from 2014 to '16, winning two Super Bowls during that span.

The first season of the Belichick-Lombardi regime has the Tar Heels off to a 2-4 start with no wins over teams from power four conferences. They will go for the first conference win on Saturday when they host No. 16 Virginia.