In The Athletic’s
latest study on 2026 NCAA college football roster budgets, the University of North Carolina ranks in the bottom 40% of Power 4 schools outlined.While roster budgets in the current day and age of Name, Image, and Likeness remain murky, The Athletic’s conversations with general managers, coaches, athletic department personnel, and agents led them to peg North Carolina football’s 2026 roster budget in the $20-25M range.
This puts North Carolina football:
- Average in the ACC (8th out of 17 teams)
- Below average of the 68 Power 4 teams reported on (41st out of 68)
The ACC average of $21-$25M is
above the Big 12 ($18-22M), but noticeably below the Big 10 ($27-31M) and SEC ($33-38M).
The full article linked here is full of fascinating insights and beautiful data visualizations — I highly recommend it.
North Carolina is Willing to Spend on Staff
What I want to focus on here is the incongruity of investing extremely competitively in the head coach and general manager positions but not following through with a competitive roster budget.
Head Coach Bill Belichick is reportedly making $10M in salary for the 2027 season, which makes him the 3rd highest-paid coach in the ACC and the 15th highest-paid coach in all of college football.
Former General Manager Michael Lombardi was infamously the highest-paid GM in college football, due to receive $1.5M in 2026-27 before his resignation last month. That is $600,000 more than the next closest GM, Mark Pantoni at Ohio State.
Even Defensive Coordinator Steve Belichick, the highest-paid member of Bill Belichick’s staff — who resigned on September 17th — was earning $1.4M in 2026, which would place him around the salary mark for a top-25 coordinator in CFB.
Where is the Money for Roster Construction?
So why does North Carolina have the 15th highest-paid head coach, the highest-paid general manager (until just recently), and a top-30 highest-paid coordinator, but a total roster salary that ranks 41st?
I do not know.
But I do know that you can pay top dollar to hire top coaches, general managers, and coordinators, but if you are unable or unwilling to be competitive in the marketplace for player talent, your ceiling is below the roof.
I hoped that when the Bill Belichick news was made official and initial reporting indicated that Belichick’s salary was twice what former head coach Mack Brown was making, it was a sign of a shift towards UNC investing more resources into their football program. I am afraid that the shift may have only been to invest more resources into UNC football staff.
The painful truth is that if North Carolina wants to compete with the Miami’s and Notre Dame’s of the world, the answers lie less in who is wearing the headsets and leading recruitment.
The answer is a $20M+ gap in cash to recruit, retain, and steal top talent.
Until then, whether it’s Larry Fedora or Curt Cignetti or Vince Lombardi pacing the sidelines, it’s going to be nearly impossible for a roster of 3-stars to compete with the upper echelon of (yes, highly paid) college football talent.
