A former university provost at North Carolina claims in a lawsuit that the university broke state laws to hide discussions about hiring Bill Belichick as its football coach, Front Office Sports reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed Monday by Chris Clemens, who said the school and its board of trustees demonstrated a “systematic misuse of closed sessions to hide policy debates from public view.”
Clemens alleged three instances related to the athletic department, the biggest being Belichick’s surprise hiring. The six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots was unable to land another NFL job and reached a five-year, $50 million deal to become North Carolina’s coach.
According to the suit, Clemens said the trustees called an “emergency meeting” on Dec. 12 and illegally conducted a closed session to discuss and approve the hiring of Belichick. The board followed by affirming the hire and the contract terms.
Clemens also alleges the board held a closed session in November of 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.”
Clemens also alleges that the board attempted to “punish him for ‘leaking’ closed-session information” to faculty members regarding a meeting about tenure. Clemens said he was asked to resign and did so, effective May 16.
UNC board of trustees chair Malcolm Turner presented a statement to Front Office Sports.
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 2-2 through the first four games of Belichick’s tenure. North Carolina was whipped 34-9 last weekend by host South Florida.
