A lawsuit filed this week against the University of North Carolina and its board of trustees alleges that UNC broke state laws by hiding discussions about the hiring of football coach Bill Belichick, as well as conversations about potential conference realignment.
As reported by Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports, the lawsuit was filed Monday in Orange County state court by former university provost Chris Clemens, who alleges three instances related to the UNC athletic department that he says demonstrate a “systematic misuse of closed sessions to hide policy debates from public view.”
That said, the lawsuit centers around alleged wrongdoing against Clemens, who argues that the board engaged in an effort to “punish him for ‘leaking’ closed-session information” to other faculty members regarding a meeting about tenure, and claims he was asked to resign as a result — which he did in May, Christovich reported.
According to thesportsleader.com, citing the FOS report, Clemens claims in the lawsuit that the trustees called an “emergency meeting” Dec. 12 and illegally conducted a closed session to discuss and approve the hiring of Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots who was unable to land another NFL job. The board followed by affirming the hire and the five-year, $50 million contract terms for Belichick to become North Carolina’s coach
Clemens also alleges the board held a closed session in November 2023 to compare the finances of membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference.
In May 2024, Clemens said the board met behind closed doors “to debate conference realignment strategy and athletics department finances.”
“Each episode follows the same pattern: the Board invokes a statutory exemption, enters closed session, then discusses broad policy or budget matters that must be debated publicly,” the suit says. “The Board compounds these violations by maintaining inadequate general accounts that prevent public understanding of what transpired.”
In a statement to Front Office Sports, UNC board of trustees chair Malcolm Turner said Clemens’ claims were “disappointing and inaccurate, not to mention a waste of taxpayer dollars, for which this former officer of the University shows no regard.”
The Tar Heels are currently 2-2 under Belichick.
