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 co

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