The Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee committed a grave error by failing to elect Bill Belichick on his first ballot, a decision that tarnishes the institution’s credibility and ignores the most successful coaching career in NFL history.
What an embarrassment. Like so many others, I’m stunned that Bill Belichick was not selected on the first ballot for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If winning six Super Bowls as New England Patriots coach – more than any coach in history – doesn’t ensure induction, then nothing will.
I’m embarrassed, too, because the selection committee that I’ve been honored and privileged to be a part of for 29 years, really missed the mark. Yes, for the record, I voted for Belichick as the lone finalist for the coaching category. I supported Mike Holmgren in that category last year and think that still-overlooked Mike Shanahan and Tom Coughlin deserve the glory of busts in Canton, too.
And please don’t tell me that Belichick having Tom Brady – who vouches for the impact the coach had on his development as the most prolific winner during the Super Bowl era – diminishes his case. Yet somehow, at least 11 voters from our 50-member panel did not vote for Belichick, leaving him short of the 80% needed (at least 40 votes) for selection.
Belichick went from no-brainer selection to first-ballot pariah
Of course, during our marathon, eight-hour selection meeting on Zoom recently we thoroughly discussed Belichick’s record and the controversies of Spygate and Deflategate. Of all the candidates, which included 15 modern-day player finalists, a contributor (Patriots owner Robert Kraft) and three seniors nominees, the discussion of Belichick was one of the longest.
Hey, I was in the room when Joe Montana was up for the Class of 2000 – at that time, the meetings were held in person, the day before the Super Bowl – and the scribe presenting Super Joe, Ira Miller of the San Francisco Chronicle, stood up and used one sentence to make his case, something to the effect of: “I present Joe Montana.” Then Ira sat down. In other words, it was a no-brainer.
Sure, Belichick’s case is a lot more complex than Montana’s was, given the discipline that’s on his record for secretly filming the hand signals used on the New York Jets sideline in 2007 – he was fined $500,000, largest ever for an NFL coach, and the Patriots were docked $250,000 in addition to the loss of a first-round draft pick – yet even with that blemish it seemed that Belichick was a no-brainer, too, as a first-ballot pick for the Hall. Or so I thought.
In the ESPN report on Jan. 27 that revealed the Belichick snub – nine days before the Hall officially reveals it Class of 2026 during the “NFL Honors” show – Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian was characterized as an influential force who wanted Belichick to wait a year as penance for Spygate. That certainly wasn’t expressed by Polian during our Zoom call. And Polian vehemently denied the allegation, from an anonymous voter, according to ESPN.com, that he led a charge to keep Belichick out in sidebar conversations with voters.
“That’s unequivocally false,” Polian told USA TODAY Sports. Sure, you can suspect that Polian had motivation. During his years as the Indianapolis Colts GM, the rivalry with the Patriots was intense. Many point to Polian, then a member of the NFL’s competition committee, for the crackdown on enforcing illegal contact penalties, given how star Patriots cornerback Ty Law bullied Colts receiver Marvin Harrison. And Deflategate, remember, was ignited by the under-inflated footballs that Brady used in the 2015 AFC championship game against the Colts. Hmmm.
Now consider this: Even if Polian – a big supporter of Kraft – didn’t support Belichick’s case, it still took at least 11 voters from the panel to deny entry. Given the relatively new rules that pit the finalist from the coaching category against the contributor finalist and three seniors category finalists, this is deeper than merely casting Polian as the archvillain.
“I was shocked that he didn’t get in,” Polian told me. “He deserves to be in the Hall, without question. He’s imminently qualified. I’m sorry he didn’t get in. I look forward to voting for him next year.” Regardless, some serious damage has been done here. Keeping Belichick out – at least for now – takes some shine off those who will be ultimately presented as the Hall’s newest class. Even worse, as the most significant snub in my years in this mix, it has left a stain on the Hall of Fame that unnecessarily fuels questions about its legitimacy.
I mean, Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy and Don Coryell are in the Hall of Fame and Belichick is not? That’s not a knock on the other coaches, elected under a different set of voting rules. But Belichick’s 333 victories, second only to Don Shula’s 347, counts for a whole lot.
Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson: ‘It tarnishes everybody’
“It tarnishes everybody associated with the Hall of Fame,” Jimmy Johnson, who won two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and was inducted into the Hall in 2021, told USA TODAY Sports. “They can’t kick me out. But he deserves to be in before me.” Johnson was so hot about it when we talked Jan. 28. Granted, they are tight. Belichick has made several treks to the Florida Keys to hang and fish with Johnson, typically wanting to talk shop while Johnson wants him to unplug.
When they saw each other recently at the college national championship game, Johnson told Belichick that he would see him in Canton at the induction ceremony in August – and he made arrangements for a chartered plane to get there. “Well, I canceled that plane,” Johnson said.
Johnson maintains that Belichick’s achievements are more impressive than other coaching legends because they came in an era of the salary cap and free agency. And that’s not counting the two Super Bowl rings he won as defensive coordinator with the New York Giants. “No one knows the history and loves the NFL more than Bill Belichick,” Johnson added. “That’s why I’m so upset.”
You’re ticked off about Belichick? So are those of us who voted for him
Johnson has so much company in the ticked-off department. Shoot, I’m a bit ticked – a bit – that so many want to lump the entire selection committee as one monolithic body. No, that’s not how it works. The voters – largely made up of journalists – have the free will to make their independent selections. While the Hall’s bylaws stipulate that we are to only consider what occurs on the field, there’s some gray area with interpretation.
It’s possible, too, that some voters didn’t support Belichick as a matter of conscience, given the cheating scandal represented with Spygate. I’m also thinking that the voting requirement for the special categories – we are required to vote for three of the five candidates from the coach, contributor and seniors categories – threw a wrench into the equation for Belichick. There are voters who are passionate about seniors nominees, thinking they get short shrift after not becoming Hall of Famers after 20 years of eligibility as modern-day candidates.
Sure, some seniors candidates may have slipped through the cracks. But to stack the deck with three seniors candidates each year is a recipe that makes it much tougher on deserving coaches and contributors. Count me in the crowd that favors transparency with the voting. If there’s a reason to vote for one candidate over another, let the explanations flow.
In the meantime, there’s no shortage of feedback from the internet mob. Intense. Vile. Below the belt. Passionate. All of that. Yet it’s also ironic that despite his reputation for being anything but Mr. Congeniality, Belichick has proven to be quite a unifier on social media. There’s overwhelming noise contending that we got it so wrong. To that point, I can hardly disagree.
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