Struggling UNC GM Michael Lombardi took shots at Mario Cristobal and the receipts are here

It's been said that a closed mouth gathers no foot, but that's a lesson that embattled North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi has never learned.

Lombardi, a big part of the failed circus with Tar Heels football since Bill Belichick was hired, has been placed on administrative leave after a former front office employee filed a complaint with the school's human resources department. 

Before jumping into his current role of taking a blow torch to UNC football, Lombardi was best known for pumping up Belichick on his podcast with The Ringer. He also managed to take a few shots at Mario Cristobal after the Miami Hurricanes won 10 games in 2024 and failed to make the playoff. 

In so many words, Lombardi called Cristobal a failed coach that simply knows how to recruit. Mind you, by this point Cristobal had already won a couple of Pac-12 titles at Oregon and even a conference title back in the day at FIU, and real ones know how hard that was. 

The point is, Cristobal already had an established proof of concept and the picture was getting clearer after a solid 2024 season. Meanwhile, Lombardi has occasionally attached himself to successful outfits over his career, but when he got to North Carolina, he found out how hard this really is.

Michael Lombardi had the nerve to criticize Mario Cristobal

When Nick Saban criticized Cristobal, we took it seriously because that's Nick Saban. When you've won seven national titles, the credentials are legitimate. Michael Lombardi is not Nick Saban and his criticism of Cristobal meant about as much as if Nick Cannon said it.

READ MORE: Miami and Mario Cristobal subtly get called out by Nick Saban on College GameDay

Lombardi has two things going for him — he's Bill Belichick's friend, which has made him a lot of money despite having no real proof that he's done anything other than piggyback on other's success, and he's got a last name associated with football greatness, even though he isn't even related to Vince Lombardi. 

Is Cristobal above criticism? Absolutely not. Is he above criticism from a know-everything, do-nothing stooge like Michael Lombardi? Absolutely. Lombardi might've had all the answers on his podcast, but there are levels to this and right now he's struggling to get past beginner.

Cristobal took his lumps in his first few seasons with the Hurricanes. He and GM Dennis Smith wanted to rebuild the program from the studs up and have done that. Now they are reaping the results and are on everyone's list as one of the favorites to win the CFP championship. 

READ MORE: Miami is a huge favorite in the ACC this season and need to embrace it

Instead of trying to prove to everyone how much he knows, Lombardi should've been taking notes from Cristobal rather than fielding such an embarrassing product on the field last year that was full of transfers. It took no time for Lombardi to change course and take a high school class of about 40.

Cristobal has a long memory and on Halloween, the Miami Hurricanes will go to Kenan Memorial Stadium and put on a 60-minute clinic to show Lombardi how big of a failure he's been. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow