iStockphoto / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Michael Lombardi's Instagram activity is being dissected.
Michael Lombardi is on administrative leave at the University of North Carolina. An HR complaint was recently filed. Details beyond that initial report remain somewhat unclear.
An investigation into the Tar Heels’ general manager is underway. The findings will determine his job status moving forward.
With the news of the probe breaking on Monday, college football fans began digging into Lombardi’s social media history. Recent activity won’t win him any supporters as he awaits his fate.
Michael Lombardi is on leave at North Carolina.
Per a source, this stems from an human resources complaint filed by a former UNC front office employee. There’s a pending investigation, which led to the administrative leave. https://t.co/QVu4invBMa
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 27, 2026
Pete Thamel of ESPN was one of many sports personalities to comment on the topic this morning. Lombardi has been placed on paid leave a month out from the start of the 2026 campaign.
An HR complaint was reportedly filed by a former front office employee. UNC is looking into the situation further.
Lombardi has been on staff for the last 20 months. He was hired to oversee recruiting and roster management when Bill Belichick took over as head coach.
The GM had previously been Belichick’s right-hand man in the NFL. The duo teamed up in both Cleveland and New England. They’d hoped to replicate success at the college level.
While Lombardi touted the Tar Heels as being the “33rd NFL Team,” success proved elusive in his debut season. The squad went 4-8. Its first three losses came by an average of 29 points.
North Carolina would be more competitive across its next six contests before being blown out in the finale by rival North Carolina State.
The Belichick-Lombardi partnership was a failure in Year 1. Drama surrounding the head coach’s love life largely overshadowed the program.
They’d hoped to rewrite the script in Year 2. Instead, they’ve been served another off-the-field distraction.
Lombardi’s job status is now in doubt before the start of his second season. His social media activity is confirming beliefs for many that question his character.
Instagram reposts draw criticism.
Instagram / Michael Lombardi
A screenshot of Michael Lombardi's Instagram activity.
Michael Lombardi’s Instagram account is public. It’s his way of promoting the North Carolina football program, as well as his own personal endeavors.
As a result of the public status, users have the ability to view his reposts. What they’ve found has been deemed “scummy.”
“You can’t fire the highest paid GM for putting together a s— roster but you can put him on paid leave for reposting and liking AI social media slop?” wrote North Carolina sports personality Joe Giglio on X.
It sparked an immediate response.
One follower replied, “I think that slop is more indicative of who he is as a person… Just a scummy dude.”
As I write this article, one post has already been deleted from the timeline. That particular video appears to have promoted AI technology that helps create music covers, in this case Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. I, admittedly, did not watch that clip before it’s removal from the reposts, but it seemed relatively insignificant.
There could be one of two reasons for the removal. Either the creator changed settings to disable public sharing, or Lombardi intentionally deleted the post. I’d tend to lean towards the latter, though neither can be ruled out 100%.
There was another post, however, that caught my attention and as of the time of this writing remains up on his Instagram account. It shows a woman in leggings speaking about first date escapades. The account, which may or may not promote a real person, is full of rather distasteful rhetoric.
The original post is from December of 2025, about a year after Lombardi was hired at UNC. Given his current situation, the optics are poor.
He is not the first football personality caught being #hornyonmain. Hugh Freeze ran into a similar issue after his firing at Auburn.
The social media activity will do little to win Michael Lombardi supporters. The public perception isn’t great. He’ll wait to see the outcome of the investigation. In the meantime, we might see a few more posts scrubbed from his Instagram timeline.