Tension about hiring Bill Belichick, football spending revealed in UNC emails
When North Carolina hired first-year-college coach Bill Belichick in December, the university committed to spending $50 million annually on football salaries. The school, in a series of emails, stood by that financial decision, including Belichick’s contract worth $10 million, despite pushback from professors, according to documents obtained by The News & Observer on Friday.
On April 22, UNC economics professor Peter Norman expressed concern about where funds for the football program were coming from. In an email to Aimee McHale, chair of the faculty athletics committee and an assistant professor, and Chancellor Lee Roberts, Norman wrote, “Please explain how UNC is suddenly so flush with money?”
“I am stunned by the money that reportedly is being spent on UNC football,” Norman wrote. “It appears to me that we are now subsidizing athletics with...What money? We are always told that there are not enough funds to hire the number of professors that we need, but paying a 73-year-old guy with no college football experience 10 millions (sic) is OK (and then letting him hire his son). And then there are millions to assistant coaches and so-called student-athletes to make us NFL team No. 33.”
What came next was a back-and-forth of emails, at times tense, between Norman and McHale, who sought advice from associate athletic director Robbi Pickeral Evans and athletic director Bubba Cunningham on how to defend the university’s marked increase in spending on football staff and facilities.
In the next exchange, McHale wrote that she shared similar concerns to Norman’s and that she had spoken to Roberts about faculty members’ apprehensions regarding “actual and perceived threats to our academic freedom” and worry about university leaders’ outward support of athletics programs rather than the primary academic mission.
“While Chancellor Roberts enumerated a host of actions that he and senior leaders from UNC are undertaking at present to ensure the robustness and viability of our academic programs and research at Carolina, I remain convinced that the optics are suboptimal to say the least,” McHale wrote.
She also included information, most of which came from UNC’s Senior Associate Athletic Director, Evans, regarding the university’s nepotism policy, changes in the financial landscape of college athletics — including NIL and the House settlement, which was approved this month — and the administration’s overall belief in Belichick.
The House settlement allows schools to share revenue with student-athletes up to $20.5 million in 2025-26. That is expected to increase roughly $1 million per year over 10 years. The change in financial requirements has created financial challenges for institutions across the country.
UNC says return in football will outweigh investment
Evans said in an email, which McHale relayed to Norman, that the university believes Belichick will create “new excitement and revenue streams through ticket sales, new sponsorships and donations.”
Additionally, at the instruction of Evans and Cunningham, McHale wrote that North Carolina football and men’s basketball programs provide financial support for the university’s 26 other athletic programs.
“I want to make sure he knows our intention is to invest in (football) with the expectation the return will outweigh the investment, thereby allowing us to continue to support our Olympic sports,” Cunningham wrote in an email to McHale and Evans.
In his response, Norman questioned whether the millions in athlete revenue sharing would have otherwise gone to academic funding in hopes that it would increase revenue. McHale responded that the funding will come from ticket sales, television rights agreements and tournament participation funds, among other avenues. But it is not coming from non-athletic funding sources at the university.
After Norman asked for proof of whether financial impacts of increased donations would help academic ventures, and criticized a cited source, McHale told Norman, “You asked me a question, and I provided some resources in the middle of a busy day at a busy time of year. You did not ask me to provide you with a systematic review of the literature. Here is another article from the philanthropic/development end of things that speaks to the issue of increased donations — athletic and non-athletic — and other benefits of successful university athletics programs. If you need further evidence, I’m sure you have excellent research skills that you can bring to bear.”
Another professor criticizes UNC, Jordon Hudson
At two separate times, according to emails obtained by The N&O, UNC professor of public law and government Christopher McLaughlin emailed Cunningham to criticize the university for how it handled Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend.
Hudson went viral for her appearance at Carolina’s “Practice Like a Pro” spring showcase, her intervention during a CBS Sunday Morning interview and for instructing the university’s communications staff on how to handle staff announcements and social media.
“(Darren) Rovell (is) now complaining about this circus to his 2 million followers,” McLaughlin wrote in an email to Cunningham on April 30, referring to the sports business analyst and former reporter. “What amount of pride are we willing to sacrifice for (perhaps) a few more wins per year? What happened to the Carolina Way?”
Nine days later, McLaughlin followed up his email by asking the university to stop spending school resources to “protect the image of the coach’s girlfriend.”
“This is an embarrassing circus, made worse by every press release mentioning the girlfriend issued by our crack university communications team,” McLaughlin wrote.
No response to McLaughlin’s email was included in the documents sent to The N&O by UNC. It’s unclear if anyone from the university reached out to him directly.
Less than a month later, Roberts, the chancellor, publicly endorsed Belichick and his tenure.
“We think Coach Belichick is off to a phenomenal start,” Roberts said. “He’s done a terrific job recruiting, both out of high school and through the transfer portal. He’s built an excellent staff. We’re excited for the season opener in Kenan Stadium on Sept. 1. He put out a statement a couple of weeks ago that I thought was cogent. I don’t have anything to add to that.”
Neither Roberts nor Cunningham responded directly to faculty members’ emails, according to the documents. It’s unclear if Cunningham spoke to either professor directly.
The N&O contacted the athletic department on Friday but did not receive an answer.
An inflated UNC football budget
So, how much is Carolina set to spend on football? Short answer: A lot.
UNC committed to spending more than $50 million annually on salaries alone, which is an increase of $8 million compared to last season. In addition to Belichick’s $10 million salary, the school promised $10 million for his staff, $5.3 million for a general manager and front office staff, and $13 million in revenue-sharing funds to obtain players.
Those aren’t the only expenses going up.
A note between Rick Steinbacher, senior associate athletic director over capital projects and facilities, indicates that more than $3.6 million in upgrades and facilities work at or near Kenan Stadium has been recently completed or is in progress.
This includes $900,000 in dorm upgrades, $1.9 million to change the football field to natural grass, $359,000 for camera equipment and the control room, and $150,000 for a virtual reality quarterback training system. It also lists future projects — including upgrades to the chancellor’s suite, governor’s suite, Kenan Center kitchen and the weight room — with no cost estimates.
According to emails, the football program requested $55,000 from the “Football Excellence Fund” to commission bronze busts of former players, such as Julius Peppers, as part of Kenan Center updates.
Additionally, the university contributed $14 million to athletics in 2024-25, meant to stabilize the program due to changes in the athletics funding model, and $5 million in 2023-24, Evans said in an email. Peer institutions often contribute university funds to athletics. Previously, the university did not contribute to the athletic department. Those contributions are set to continue annually. The documents do not include an estimated contribution for the 2025-26 year.
Finally, UNC budgeted $9.2 million in severance pay across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years for the previous coaching staff. This number could decrease, however, if the coaches receive employment elsewhere.
In 2023-24, the football program generated $66.9 million in revenue, according to the university’s financial report submitted to the NCAA. After expenses, it ended with a surplus of $26.8 million. The men’s basketball team also boasted a surplus of $18.7 million.
Carolina also reported $105.1 million in athletics-related debt and $532 million in dedicated endowments. The debt is partially carried by the Rams Club and used for facility upgrades.
“The University continues to invest in football and men’s basketball because those two sports generate the revenue to support the other 26 world-class sports,” Kevin Best, UNC senior director of media relations, said in the documents. “We want to provide as many opportunities as possible to as many students as possible.”
Staff writers Chip Alexander and Caroline Wills contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
