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A trial accused the University of North Carolina and its board of directors of having illegally hired the football coach Bill Belichick behind in December.
The former provost of UNC, Chris Clemens, and lawyer David McKenzie filed the trial before the Superior Court of the County of Orange, and this alleges that the hiring of Belichick is one of the many cases where closed sessions took place at the public university.
The trial indicates an alleged “scheme and practice” to the UNC to hide “questions of serious public concern behind closed doors”. One of these questions includes the potential realignment of the conference.
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Caroline du Nord’s head coach Bill Belichick looks at the first half of an NCAA football match against Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, September 6. (AP photo / Nell Redmond)
Clemens also alleges that he was punished after having “failed information in camera” to the members of the faculty concerning a meeting with the delivery of the mandate as the main subject of the trial.
“As vice-chancellor and executive provost, [Clemens] The deans and the vice-chancellors have informed internally the posture of the tenure policy of the council after a session on camera so that they can manage the expectations of the teachers, “said the trial.” The subsequent efforts of the Council to punish it for “ disclosure ”, information on closed files highlight the culture of secrecy in despite the law of open meetings and the law on public archives. “”
As for the hiring of Belichick, the trial alleys that “substantial deliberation occurred in secret” on December 12, 2024, during a meeting of the emergency council. The trial indicates that, since the “Belichick remuneration package and the whole hiring were already public”, there was no need for its session on closed doors.
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“The Council did not present any comparable analysis of thirty years of thirty years, and it did not invoke the budgetary restriction at Long Horizon to postpone this decision for a single employee of the UNC,” said the trial after spending the remuneration of Belichick for having joined the TAR heels.
Athletics beyond football has been used as examples of the trial, including an alleged camera session in November 2023 to discuss an ACC potential alignment of the UNC, comparing it to “potential financial results with dry or big ten” membership.
The trial alleged another session on closed doors to realign the conference took place in May 2024.
North Caroline’s new head coach, the new head coach Bill Belichick, talks to the Loudermilk Center for Excellence media. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn images)
“The Board of Directors again used the session in camera to debate the strategy of realignment of conferences and the finances of the athletics department,” said the trial. “There is no legal exemption which allows a closed discussion on institutional affiliations and budgetary planning.”
The trial adds: “Each episode follows the same scheme: the Board of Directors invokes a legal exemption, enters the session on camera, then discusses general or budgetary issues which must be discussed publicly. The board of directors aggravates these violations by maintaining inadequate general accounts which prevent the public from understanding what is transpired.”
McKenzie has a history with disputes against UNC, after being in the lead in a trial against the University and its board of directors after the realignment session of the May 2024 conference.
A temporary prohibition order was granted on May 16, 2024, a day after McKenzie filed the complaint, which prevented the board of directors “from entering session to camera to discuss finances, budgeting, deficit or realignment of the UNC future conference.
Belichick’s rental included a camera session, which lasted 41 minutes and finally led to his hiring as well as women’s football coach Damon Nahas at UNC. It was a shock for the world of football, because Belichick had not trained at university during his illustrious career.
Caroline du Nord’s head coach Bill Belichick heads his team during the first half of a university football match from the NCAA against Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, Saturday September 6, 2025. (AP photo / Nell Redmond)
As the trial indicates, Belichick was hired on a salary of $ 10 million per season with additional compensation for bringing his sons Steve and Brian Belichick to his coache staff.
The trial indicates that the Belichick Agreement has placed “the total exposure well in the tens of millions of people over five years”.
The start of the Belichick college training was pedestrian to start, having gone 2-2 in his first four games.
