CHAPEL HILL — Former University of North Carolina general manager Michael Lombardi faced a one-game suspension this season for a self-reported NCAA violation involving off-campus recruiting, internal documents obtained by WRAL show.

Lombardi, the highest-paid general manager in college football, was placed on paid administrative leave in late July and resigned from the football program earlier this month. He was set to be suspended for one game for “an exchange in excess of a greeting with a prospective student-athlete at his high school.” The incident occurred in February, according to the documents, which were obtained through a public records request.

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UNC self-reported 13 NCAA violations during the 2025-26 academic year, including seven involving the football program in head coach Bill Belichick’s first season, the documents show. All 13 were characterized as secondary or Level III violations, the lowest level of infraction.

Schools are required to report violations to the NCAA. Those that don’t can face harsher penalties.

The university’s top lawyer told WRAL on Thursday that a recent UNC-led investigation into the program didn’t turn up any new NCAA violations.

“Our work was made available to the compliance team, and I’m not aware that they have found anything,” UNC general counsel Paul Newton said.

Nate Huff, the outside attorney hired to lead the investigation, said that whenever he encountered information that he thought entered the realm of NCAA violations, he brought those to compliance.

“We were also investigating some allegations that touched on NCAA issues,” he said. “That’s where we would flag those for the internal folks that deal with those issues.”

North Carolina was barred from having unofficial visitors at its home opener against East Tennessee State University as punishment for a separate recruiting violation. The Tar Heels opted not to have any high school football recruits on campus that weekend. 

That violation involved football staff staging photograph opportunities for unofficial visitors on the field during pre-game warm-ups, according to an NCAA case report. The program’s then-director of scouting “falsely asserted” to the compliance staff that photographs were not taken. The NCAA wrote that the director of scouting should be suspended for one game day, and the director of scouting and the football program “should be advised that future similar or related violations likely will result in more significant penalties.”

The NCAA suspended UNC assistant coach Armond Hawkins for two weeks in October 2025 for providing the brother of a current athlete with a sideline pass. The pass was requested for an NFL player by the assistant coach.

Another report says a UNC assistant coach had an “in-person, off-campus contact with a prospective student-athlete during the evaluation period.”

In another one, the NCAA detailed a situation in which UNC football personnel had continued contact with a prospective transfer student-athlete after he had signed an aid agreement with another institution. UNC was required to issue a letter of admonishment to the person or people responsible for the violation. 

In another, video staff filmed approximately 10 minutes of voluntary activities following a permissible practice activity, a report says.

"Something that is an NCAA bylaw violation under the rules, they are required to self-report that to the NCAA,” Jason Montgomery, a former NCAA investigator, previously told WRAL. “The NCAA then makes determination as to whether further inquiry needs to occur and/or it can be processed.” 

There are three levels of infractions under NCAA rules.

  • Level I violations “seriously undermine or threaten the integrity of college sports,” and can include “lack of institutional control,” “academic integrity,” or “failure to cooperate with an NCAA investigation.
    • Level II violations “involve conduct that may compromise the integrity of college sports.” Those include “systemic violations that do not amount to lack of institutional control,” “failure to monitor,” and “multiple recruiting, financial aid or eligibility violations.”
      • Level III violations are less serious, and can be “inadvertent” and “isolated.” Those include “extra benefit, financial aid, academic eligibility and recruiting violations, provided they do not create more than minimal advantages.”