Belichick’s son resigns at UNC
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Investigators looking into conduct within Bill Belichick's North Carolina football program examined a range of allegations tied to potential drug use, inappropriate relationships and NCAA rule violations.
They talked to the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach among a lengthy list of interviewees.
"Our scope was broad, so we looked into a lot of stuff," lead investigator Nate Huff said Thursday.
And when the probe concluded, Belichick's son had joined a longtime confidant of his father's in resigning from the program.
The school released a statement Thursday morning saying Steve Belichick's resignation as defensive coordinator would be effective in late October at the conclusion of a medical leave, which was announced early in preseason camp. That made him the second high-profile resignation amid the probe, the other being general manager Michael Lombardi earlier this month.
According to UNC's statement, the school's investigation "determined that certain actions demonstrated a disregard for Carolina's values and standards of conduct." The school didn't reveal specifics of those actions found by the review, nor had it discussed details of the investigation launched in late July.
"The investigation also found that these actions were isolated in scope and not a systemic failure," the school said in a statement that also announced a player suspension following a Tuesday traffic stop.
In an interview later Thursday with The Associated Press, The Assembly and WRAL of Raleigh, Huff along with UNC general counsel Paul Newton wouldn't discuss detailed findings or conduct by specific individuals. But Huff -- an attorney and former federal prosecutor -- confirmed his team looked into allegations tied to drugs, relationships and NCAA issues.
"This was not a circumstance where we were targeting any individual person or any specific people," Huff said. "We were looking program-wide -- football program-wide."
QB feeling better
BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt was upgraded to "questionable" Thursday night on the Southeastern Conference injury report after initially being listed as "doubtful" for Saturday's game at Mississippi.
The change increases the probability that Leavitt will be under center when No. 7 LSU visits No. 8 Mississippi on Saturday night in a game that is the focus of the college football world because of Tigers coach Lane Kiffin's return to the place where he coached the previous six seasons.
Leavitt's initial listing came four days after a 45-14 victory over Louisiana Tech, from which the dual-threat Arizona State transfer emerged without an apparent injury. Kiffin also did not mention Leavitt's health during his regularly scheduled press conference on Monday.
But Leavitt, who has run for five touchdowns and passed for two scores in two games with the Tigers (2-0), did not practice Wednesday because of a "physical issue," a person familiar with the situation said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Thursday because the Tigers' practice was not open to media.
According to the SEC, starters were listed as "doubtful" the Wednesday before a game 46 times in 2025. Four times they wound up playing on Saturday.
When Kiffin was coaching Ole Miss in 2024, he had as many as 26 players on an injury report before a game against Georgia. Many of the players on the report wound up in the lineup for a 28-10 victory over the then-No. 2 Bulldogs.
Wildcats keeping Braun around
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has extended coach David Braun's contract through the 2031 season. The school hasn't released financial terms.
Braun is in his fourth season at Northwestern and carries a 20-19 record into Saturday's game with Colorado. Northwestern went 7-6 and beat Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl last season. Braun became Northwestern's interim head coach in the summer of 2023 after the firing of Pat Fitzgerald.
Braun got the job for keeps as he went 8-5 with a Northwestern team that had gone 1-11 a year earlier. The Wildcats slipped to 4-8 in 2024 but bounced back last year.