Belichick’s Pro Football HOF Snub Leaves Sports World Exasperated
By David Glenn
Bill Belichick’s parents were originally from the Cleveland area, about a one-hour drive from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
As a younger man, Belichick regularly made trips to Canton with his football-coach father, Steve, who had played high school and college football in Ohio and had a bunch of connections at the Hall of Fame for decades.
“We would go down to the basement of the Hall of Fame, and they would show us their collection of books,” Belichick said. “Other than the Library of Congress, I think it’s the largest collection of football books in the world.”
UNC’s Belichick, now 73, first became a staff member in the National Football League in 1975, when he was just 23 years old. Over the next half-century, he became both one of the most knowledgeable historians and one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport.
His eight Super Bowl championships — six as the head coach of the New England Patriots, two as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants — are the most in NFL history for any individual player or coach.
Belichick’s professional head coaching resume also has him at or near the top of the all-time NFL lists with nine Super Bowl appearances (first), nine conference championships (first), 17 divisional titles (first), 31 playoff wins (first) and 333 total victories (second, behind only Don Shula’s 347).
Nevertheless, earlier this month, after deliberations by the 50 members of the Hall’s voting committee, Belichick — eligible for the first time because he was more than one year removed from his last NFL contract (with the Patriots in January 2024) — somehow fell short of the 40 votes required for induction.
North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick protests a call during the second half of an NCAA college football game against North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Photo via AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker.)
When the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 is officially announced on Feb. 5, then inducted in Canton on Aug. 8, Belichick won’t be part of the festivities.
As a wide range of theories quickly emerged (Spygate/Deflategate controversies, antagonistic relationship with media voters, possible presence of long-time Patriots owner Robert Kraft — with whom Belichick has an extremely frosty relationship — in this year’s Hall of Fame class) regarding why Belichick won’t be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the reaction of the American sports world was near-universal exasperation.
“Man there’s no way I read that right! Right?” NBA superstar LeBron James posted on his Twitter/X account Tuesday. “Ain’t no WAY Bill Belichick ain’t 1st Ballot HOF!! That’s IMPOSSIBLE, EGREGIOUS, and quite frankly DISRESPECTFUL!”
“This is just WRONG,” legendary NFL coach Jimmy Johnson posted. “#2 winning ALL TIME…more Super Bowls than anyone, unimaginable # of division championships…lot of small jealous voters.”
(See below for more social media reaction.)
Interestingly, although the Hall of Fame voters ballots’ typically are kept private, meaning the general public may never know which 11 (or more) voters excluded Belichick from their ballot this year, one fascinating aspect of the committee’s otherwise private deliberations did recently reach the public forum.
During his presentation in support of Belichick’s candidacy, a committee member shared the following note he received from legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who led each of Belichick’s six Super Bowl victories during their time together in New England.
“I don’t believe that any coach in the history of the game has done more to earn his place in the Hall of Fame than Bill Belichick,” Brady wrote. “To say that he was my greatest coaching influence would be an understatement. His tremendous leadership, vision and daily discipline allowed our team to excel in nearly every area for almost two decades. We were consistently competitive at the highest level every week as he challenged us to grow from the day that season started to the day it ended. That’s the role of the head coach, and that’s Bill Belichick.
“I had a front-row seat for 20 years, watching the greatest coach of all time prepare, teach and lead. He set the standard every single day. His mindset, his consistency, his ability to adapt and evolve — was unmatched. He expected a championship-level standard from everyone in the building, and he got it. That’s why we won! And that’s why he belongs in Canton.
“I’m grateful for what we accomplished together, and I’ll always be proud of the team we built. No one’s more deserving of this honor than Coach Belichick.”
####
NBA star LeBron James:
x.com/KingJames/status/2016301261113655646
Hall of Fame NFL coach (now Fox Sports analyst) Jimmy Johnson:
x.com/JimmyJohnson/status/2016291118816657884
Legendary defensive end (now CBS broadcaster) JJ Watt:
x.com/JJWatt/status/2016276953905398115
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes:
x.com/PatrickMahomes/status/2016285161659175134
Long-time NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III:
x.com/RGIII/status/2016296282847904186
Legendary defensive tackle (now NFL Network analyst) Gerald McCoy:
x.com/Geraldini93/status/2016290857268478403
Former UNC star (now NFL Network analyst) Bucky Brooks:
x.com/BuckyBrooks/status/2016281855603929165
Long-time NFL journalist Mike Freeman:
x.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/2016294821225255343
Former ESPN broadcaster Jemele Hill:
x.com/jemelehill/status/2016316014946889800
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
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