Michael Lombardi blasts Mike Florio for criticism of Bill Belichick’s moving slowly at North Carolina

Bill Belichick’s inaugural head coaching staff at North Carolina is starting to take shape.

And while some might argue it’s dragging out. It all depends on your perspective. It also depends on who you ask.

After news surfaced that Steve Belichick, Belichick’s son and defensive coordinator at Chapel Hill, would bring over Armond Hawkins from Washington to coach the program’s defensive backs, Mike Florio opined that the staff was slow to take shape.

The creator of Pro Football Talk wrote that the process is “making for plenty of frayed nerves in Chapel Hill.

Florio had an even stronger take on Belichick, making few — if any — hires.

The situation is doing nothing to fray nerves in Chapel Hill regarding the possibility that Belichick will activate his $10 million buyout and bolt for the NFL. Separate and apart from the question of whether another team will hire him (the Raiders are not interested, even if Belichick would like people to think they are), UNC is bracing for the possibility that Belichick will be gone not long after he arrived.

Look at the hires he has made. Freddie Kitchens, a holdover from the prior staff, serves as offensive coordinator. Bill’s son, Steve, is the defensive coordinator. Matt Lombardi, G.M. Mike Lombardi’s son, is an offensive assistant. Chris Jones, a former CFL coach who worked for Kitchens in 2019, is a defensive assistant. Billy Miller is a general position assistant. And Moses Cabrera, who worked for Belichick in New England, is the strength and conditioning coach.

Perhaps Florio has a point, but another element is also at play: Division I schools tend to draw out these processes as much as possible.

Take Temple University, my alma mater, for example. While it’s not North Carolina, Temple named K.C. Keeler its head coach on Dec. 1. According to OwlScoop.com, Keeler has already largely filled out his staff. Yet, as of this article’s writing, the university has only announced two other hires: the general manager and the head strength and conditioning coach.

The process is slower than many would like, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong. The longer it stretches, however, the more speculation it invites, especially given Belichick’s buyout figure.

That’s led to stories like Florio’s and even sparked a response from Michael Lombardi, who was hired as Belichick’s GM at UNC.

Lombardi criticized recent reports, including NFL Network’s suggestion that the Las Vegas Raiders were interested in Belichick, which he called “a complete falsehood” during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show last week. This time, he fired back at Florio, insisting the staff’s slow progress was a deliberate choice.

“We are not slow, just being diligent,” Lombardi wrote. “Hired three people on Sunday, not  onris nervous other than this [erroneous] report. A [completely fabricated] story. Thank you.”

Spelling errors aside, Lombardi wants to clarify that while the process may seem drawn out, it’s intentional.