North Carolina is reportedly preparing for a possible divorce from Bill Belichick, just five games into the head coach’s tenure.

According to Andrew Jones of 247Sports (h/t Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio), the school held “potential exit strategy discussions” on Wednesday and has had “preliminary conversations” about the possibility of moving on from the head coach, prioritizing a way to limit how much it pays in a buyout, if not avoiding it altogether.

While UNC is struggling on the field, there were also reports this week that cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins was suspended for violating NCAA rules by providing sideline passes to a player’s family. But Jones also noted that “there are many other violations that have occurred, many on the recruiting front,” which could be factoring into North Carolina already considering an exit strategy.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

Make Bleacher Report one of your preferred sources on Google by selecting Bleacher Report on the “source preferences” page here.

For more from Bleacher Report, check out our B/R app, homepage and social feeds—including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.