As the North Carolina football program has struggled, despite being the self-styled "33rd NFL team," more attention has been devoted to the person who accumulated the players who, in most games, have simply not been good enough: General Manager Mike Lombardi.

Sufficient attention has been directed to Lombardi to put him on the one radar screen everyone in pro and college sports currently hopes to avoid. The one monitored by Pablo Torre.

The latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Outfocuses on Lombardi’s NFL credentials.

We'll defer to the full episode for all relevant details of the deep dive performed by Torre and David Fleming. There are three major takeaways to be shared here.

First, Lombardi loves to quote the late Bill Walsh. In his book, Gridiron Genius, Lombardi creates the impression that he was essentially Walsh's right-hand man. Walsh's son, Craig, said this to Pablo Torre Finds Out: "He was just there in a very, very limited role. I don't think he really had any personal contact with Bill outside of seeing him in a hallway, or sitting in the back of a meeting. . . . He might have been like the gofer/chauffeur, pick him up here. In fact, that does kind of ring a bell. You know, that this is your entryway into it, to get to wear a 49ers shirt. But that's about as far as it goes. . . . I'll jump on the wagon a little bit, just because I don't like him using the fact that he was part of the 49ers organization when all he did was go get sandwiches."

Second, Lombardi has claimed he left his job with the Patriots to write Gridiron Genius. According to Pablo Torre Finds Out, however, Lombardi was fired amid a near mutiny within the Patriots' staff, with complaints about Lombardi coming from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, director of player personnel Nick Caserio, director of football/head coach administration Berj Najarian, and director of football research Ernie Adams, among others. Specifically, when Lombardi's contract with the Patriots expired after the 2016 draft, owner Robert Kraft told coach Bill Belichick (who had full control over the football operation) that Lombardi had to go.

Third, Lombardi calls himself a three-time Super Bowl winner. Craig Walsh told Pablo Torre Finds Out, however, that Lombardi did not receive a Super Bowl ring from the 49ers for the 1984 season. "Did he get a ring?" Craig Walsh said. "No. . . . He might have got a Balfour pendant." (Lombardi, through North Carolina P.R., declined to comment.) Also, Pablo Torre Finds Out reports that Lombardi did not receive an official Super Bowl ring from the Patriots for the 2016 season, because he was fired after the 2016 draft. Instead, Belichick personally bought a friends-and-family-level ring for Lombardi after the Patriots won Super Bowl LI. (Lombardi, through North Carolina P.R., declined to comment.)

So the self-described three-time Super Bowl-winning strategist actually has won only one Super Bowl ring that was issued to him by the team that won the Super Bowl. Not three.