Lombardi suggests Belichick/UNC Hard Knocks would have lasted through the entire season

It's spring football season at North Carolina. And, apparently, it's revisionist history season, too.

North Carolina G.M./Consigliere Mike Lombardi, appearing this week with Pat McAfee and his crew, painted an interesting picture about the talks with NFL Films regarding the possibility of Hard Knocks featuring UNC and new coach Bill Belichick.

Quick refresher: On February 28, Ryan Glasspiegel of FrontOfficeSports.com reported that the offseason edition of Hard Knocks will (not might or could, but will) feature North Carolina. That same day, Jonathan Jones of CBSSports.com reported that the deal was done, but for the signing of the paperwork.

The way "Lombo" now tells it, there never could have been an agreement with NFL Films, because North Carolina wanted a show that would cover the offseason AND the preseason AND the entire 2025 football season.

Here's what Lombardi told McAfee on March 19: "The problem was that, you know, we control the story we need to tell here. And the story we wanna tell doesn't end after we play TCU [on Labor Day weekend]. The story that we wanna tell is a story about how we're rebuilding this program. How we're gonna honor the great players who have come before us. How we're going to restore Tar Heel football and make this stadium come alive on Saturday afternoons, like a lot of other schools in the ACC. That's the story we wanna tell.

"And when it stops after the first game, like Hard Knocks does, it doesn't do us any good to tell that story. And that really was the concern that we all had here in the building was we're storytellers. When you let them in your building, we're gonna tell a story. And the story we wanna tell was about how we're working to build this program, and we're gonna work hard to recruit and do all that. And that extends into September, October, and November. It can't stop at Labor Day. And I think that was more the issue. . . ."

If that was the concern, why were they even talking to NFL Films? The league surely wouldn't have given all three editions of the 2026 Hard Knocks universe to North Carolina. And that's CLEARLY what Lombardi now says Belichick and North Carolina wanted.

If that's even remotely true — and Lombardi made his assertion literally minutes after declaring it's "lying season" in the NFL and "everybody lies" — there would have been no reason to even talk to NFL Films about the offseason version of Hard Knocks.

Logic and common sense point to other reasons. As we reported, multiple owners were unhappy about the news that NFL Films was giving North Carolina and Bill Belichick the platform to promote his new program. There reportedly were "creative control" issues. There's also been plenty of talk that someone close enough to Belichick to be cc’d on his emails expected to be a little too involved in the process of producing the show.

In contrast, there has been NO reporting that the talks collapsed because North Carolina demanded offseason Hard Knocks AND preseason Hard Knocks AND in-season Hard Knocks.

But Lombardi's latest story is UNC wanted it all, and he's sticking to it. Regarding any other potential explanation for the turn of events, it's far easier to attack the messenger(s) than it is to address the merits. Said Lombardi this week, "Obviously, there was a lot of misinformation, mostly from somebody who runs a website as we all know and who's never gotten it right. But that's OK. He keeps writing it, and we'll continue to not listen to what he says 'cause he has no sources, and life goes on." (You've got to admit, I've done pretty well for a guy who has never gotten it right and who has no sources. Probably because, at least once in a while, we do get it right and we do have sources. For example, we were right about folks at UNC being nervous about Belichick looking to make a quick exit to the NFL.)

With Lombardi, it's all about the messaging. Truth is irrelevant. It's no different than the current state of American politics. Push your message aggressively. Attack anyone who dares to share any information that conflicts with your message.

Consider how Lombo further explained the goal of a North Carolina "documentary." He flat-out admitted it will be an infomercial aimed at attracting players, raising money, and generally advancing the interests of the Tar Heels program.

"It's really about what story do we wanna tell, right?" Lombardi said. "And we wanted to tell a full story of our year. And we still are in talks about telling that story. And eventually we'll sign a contract that has that story involved. But that's what we need to tell. Because, remember, we're recruiting. Every day.

"You know, Al Davis used to tell me this all the time, Pat. He said, 'You know, when you talk — and of course he said you shouldn't talk very much — but when you do talk, you have three people you're talking to. You're talking to the owner, you're talking to the team, and you're talking to the fans. And when we talk here at North Carolina, we're recruiting. We're recruiting to our fan base. We're recruiting young prospective players. And we're recruiting to our alumni. And so those are the three things we have to center on, every single day."

Give Lombardi credit. He's focused on the message, to a fault. And the fault is that he's making it clear everything he says is aimed solely at helping the program, regardless of whether it's accurate. Which ultimately explains why he's now claiming North Carolina wants an infomercial that covers the entire season. It's the best way to couch the collapse of the talks with NFL Films, given that his overall goal is to at all times make North Carolina football look good.

Which makes it entirely possible that Lombardi's messaging on any North Carolina-related topic (or pretty much any other subject) can best be summarized by the opening statement once delivered in fewer than 10 words by noted legal scholar Vincent LaGuardia Gambini.

It doesn't matter whether his words have little or no relationship to reality. All that matters is the messaging. Common sense takes a back seat. If it even gets a spot in the car.

Even if common sense, in this specific instance, makes it crystal clear that, if the impasse came from NFL Films offering the offseason edition of Hard Knocks and North Carolina wanting all of it for 2025, we would have heard about it weeks ago.