Bill Belichick’s North Carolina assistant coach suspended

Things just keep getting worse around Bill Belichick and his North Carolina football program.

Cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins has been suspended due to extra-benefit allegations raised in WRAL’s report on dysfunction within the Tar Heels’ program, according to The Athletic.

The alleged violation of NCAA rules involved sideline passes awarded to members of a player’s family.

Hawkins joined the UNC staff this year after working as a recruiting analyst and secondary coach at the University of Washington with Belichick’s son Steve, who is now the Tar Heels’ defensive coordinator.

In WRAL’s scathing report, a parent of a current UNC player accused the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of fostering a “toxic environment” in Chapel Hill.

A source close to the program told WRAL that the team’s porous 2-3 start stemmed from a “divided locker room” between players recruited by former coach Mac Brown and those recruited by Belichick and a “disorganized” staff that displayed a “failure to communicate.”

“It started with recruits coming in on an interim basis and being entitled to certain things,” a source told the outlet. “It was about them individually, not the team. It was about me and what I was going to do.”

One parent chastised Belichick and his team’s communication skills.

“There was no communication with coaches and parents, period,” one of the parents of a UNC player told WRAL. “None, zero, nothing. Not an email from a coach, a text message, a phone call, nothing.”

While North Carolina has picked up wins over inferior opponents in Charlotte and Richmond, it has been outscored 120-35 by TCU, UCF and, most recently, Clemson.

It’s not quite the start that Belichick, 73, and the school envisioned when he accepted the job and the $10 million salary that came with it. Many headlines have also been dominated by the coach’s relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.

The program announced Tuesday that it is dropping plans for a Hulu docuseries about Belichick’s first season as a college head coach.