Lost in the news that the Hall of Fame voters snubbed Bill Belichick is that it shouldn’t have been news.
No one is supposed to know who did, and didn’t, make it until the official announcement happens, next Thursday. And so there’s an obvious question to ask.
How did it get out?
From the perspective of Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, they were absolutely right to report it. Far too much of the journalism in sports amounts to a five-minute, favor-trading head’s up before an official announcement is made. Anyone who works in this space should aspire to find out the things they don’t want us to know, and the Hall of Fame surely didn’t want us to know that Belichick didn’t make it.
Belichick, or someone close to him, surely did.
Belichick may not have been a source, directly. Supposedly, the candidates sign an NDA. (Then again, what’s the Hall of Fame going to do, sue him?) It’s obvious Belichick disclosed his snub to others, which he technically shouldn’t have done.
It’s also obvious that someone to whom he spoke then spoke to ESPN. From the story: “Several sources who spoke with the coach over the weekend described Belichick as ‘puzzled’ and ‘disappointed’ by his inability to secure support from at least 80% of Hall committee members. . . . ‘Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?’ Belichick asked an associate. . . . To another associate, he said, ‘What does a guy have to do?’”
With or without Belichick’s fingerprints on the disclosure of something that, from the Hall of Fame’s perspective, shouldn’t have been leaked, the news has sparked a tidal wave of good P.R. for a man who, starting with the on-off Hard Knocks thing from last February, has been dog-paddling in a shark tank.
While it likely won’t be enough to get the Raiders or the Cardinals to make him an eleventh-hour candidate for their head-coaching jobs, the complications of the past calendar year have been forgotten, at least for one or two news cycles.
Of all the voices that have chimed in regarding the nonsensical Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub, few have spoken more loudly, or more forcefully, than Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson.
Johnson, who won two Super Bowls to Belichick’s eight, has lashed out repeatedly on social media in the hours since word emerged that Belichick won’t be a first-ballot inductee.
“This is just WRONG ..#2 winning ALL TIME…more Super Bowls than anyone unimaginable # of division championships…lot of small jealous voters,” Johnson tweeted in response to the news.
Then, this: “I would like to know the names of the assholes who did not vote for him..they are too cowardly to identify themselves…"
Added Johnson: “PLEASE…If you did not vote for BB identify yourselves!!! Probably too much of a coward..Hide behind your SECRET BALLOT!!!”
Also: “As a HOF coach I think Bill Belichick is the greatest of all time…yes he had a great QB but we all did..he won AFTER THE salary cap and free agency plus I Know how much he LOVES THE NFL and the game..I’m pissed..”
“I would bet that if the HOF votes were public very few of the assholes that did not vote for Bill Belichick would come forward..already some are lying about their vote,” Johnson said.
As to the notion that one or more voters passed over Belichick as punishment for cheating, Johnson said this: “If they are using the EXCUSE of spygate that’s ridiculous…many teams (including ourselves) tried it..Howard Mudd at Kansas City who later coached for Bill Polian and Tony Dungy gave us the idea..he was the best..we didn’t get anything and stopped but many teams gave it a try.”
The lingering question is whether those who didn’t vote for Belichick will disclose their decision, and explain their reasoning. The Hall of Fame voting process shouldn’t be a Star Chamber. There should be transparency.
And those who cast votes should be willing to make their votes known and to stand behind them.
Much has been said about the illogical decision to snub Bill Belichick in his first Hall of Fame candidacy. In an era where it’s impossible to get people to agree on anything (up to and including the color of the sky), everyone agrees Belichick should be in.
Except, of course, for some of the folks on the Hall of Fame voting panel — as few as 11 out of 50 — who didn’t vote for Belichick.
Recent changes to the voting process have contributed to this bizarre result.
The candidates come from multiple tracks. A list of modern-era players is whittled down to 15, before the official selection meeting. Separately, various committees tee up one or more candidates from other categories: Currently, one coach, one contributor, three seniors (i.e., players who failed to be enshrined when they qualified for the “modern-era” category).
Previously, the modern-era players would be reduced from 15 to 10 to five at the selection meeting, with the voters then casting an up-or-down ballot as to each of the final five. If at least 80 percent voted “yes,” the finalist secured enshrinement.
Now, the modern-era list goes from 15 to 10 to seven. The voters then pick five of the seven. Those who appear on at least 80 percent of the ballots get in. That makes it harder for each of the seven finalists to advance to enshrinement — and it puts each of the seven modern-era finalists in direct competition with the rest of them.
As to the other categories, the finalists used to get their own up-or-down vote, with 80 percent being the magic number. Now, the five finalists from the coach, contributor, and seniors categories end up in the same bucket. Of the five, the voters pick three. Those who appear on 80 percent of the ballots get in. Which means that the five finalists from the coach, contributor, and seniors categories are in direct competition, too.
For 2026, Belichick was the coaching finalist. Patriots owner Robert Kraft was the contributor finalist. Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and L.C. Greenwood were the seniors finalists.
Earlier this month, each of the 50 voters submitted a ballot with three of those five names on it. No one affirmatively voted “against” Belichick. Not enough (at least 40) put him on their three-of-five ballot.
The question for the 11 (or more) who omitted Belichick is why? It’s possible someone (or more than one someone) believed Belichick should wait, due to the Spygate scandal. It’s possible someone (or more than one someone) believed Belichick’s success was more about Tom Brady. It’s possible someone (or more than one someone) simply doesn’t like Belichick. It’s possible someone (or more than one someone) resents the manner in which he has conducted himself, professionally and/or personally, over the past year. It’s possible someone (or more than one someone) objects to him dating someone young enough to be his granddaughter.
It’s also possible that someone (or more than one someone) assumed Belichick would easily get to 40 votes, with the three votes going to others instead.
Whatever the reason(s), the current process makes it much harder to get in than it used to be. Which makes no sense. The Hall of Fame should have one standard that applies each and every year. Raising the bar in response to the criticisms of folks like Deion Sanders isn’t the answer. (The answer is to create an upper room to the Hall of Fame, consisting of the best of the best.)
Then there’s the question of how these rules get made and revised. No one seems to know, including the voters.
The Belichick snub may feel like an aberration, but it’s the direct result of a flawed process that cries out for comprehensive change. From top to bottom. Starting with the Board of Directors and ending with the panel of voters.
The fact that a no-brainer, mic-drop, first-ballot Hall of Famer like Belichick didn’t make it proves that the current voting system should be scrapped. And the process of coming up with a new voting system should be handled from square one by the right people.
To the extent that the omission of Belichick directly undermines the integrity of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it indirectly undermines the integrity of the NFL. And, since the Commissioner is a member of the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors, he’s the most obvious person to figure out a way to tear down a broken system and to devise the most appropriate way to create a new one.
Former Bill Belichick nemesis Bill Polian voted for Belichick to make it to the Hall of Fame. Unless he didn’t.
After telling Matt Verderame of SI.com that the Hall of Fame G.M. and Hall of Fame voter cast a ballot for Belichick, Polian tells ESPN.com that he doesn’t remember “with 100 percent certainty” whether he voted for Belichick. Polian said he was “95 percent sure” he voted for Belichick.
All due respect, how could anyone forget such a significant vote? It sounds like a safe harbor for Polian, in the event the Hall of Fame decides to release the votes (they should) or someone who knows the contents of Polian’s ballots tells someone like Pablo Torre that, no, Polian didn’t vote for Belichick.
Beyond Polian’s vote, he denied telling other voters that Belichick should wait a year, due to the original Spygate scandal. Polian told ESPN.com that he heard a couple of other voters “float that idea,” but that Polian neither agreed nor disagreed with that idea.
“I was shocked to learn Bill didn’t get in,” Polian said. “He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
If that’s the case, how does Polian not recall with 100 percent certainty that he voted for Belichick?
This is why the votes should be disclosed. And if the voters aren’t comfortable with transparency, they should step aside for someone who is willing to put their name on their votes.
Here’s hoping that all 50 voters will disclose whether they did or didn’t vote for Belichick. Hopefully with 100 percent certainty.
The ESPN.com report regarding the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub includes an important nugget regarding one of his long-time rivals.
Hall of Famer and former Bills and Colts G.M. Bill Polian, a top rival to the Patriots in the 2000s and current Hall of Fame voter, reportedly told some voters he believed Beichick should “wait a year” as punishment for the original Spygate scandal.
ESPN’s story does not include a comment from Polian; the given explanation was that he did not “immediately respond” to a request for comment. The four-hour old story has not been updated, as of this posting, to include a comment from Polian, a former ESPN employee.
Polian did provide a comment to another outlet. He told Matt Verderame of SI.com, regarding whether Polian influenced the anti-Belichick vote: “That’s totally and categorically untrue. I voted for him.”
And, as a politician once told me, you can only trust the people who say they didn’t vote for you.
Regarding Belichick, at least 11 of the 50 voters opposed his enshrinement. Which is stunning, given his accomplishments. And which should disqualify those individuals from voting again.
But we don’t know who they are, and won’t know unless they disclose their votes — or the Hall of Fame does.
Either way, why is it a secret? Anyone who has a vote should be willing to stand behind it.
Our friend Peter King put it best.
That was King’s response to the news, via Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, that former Browns and Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not qualify for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first try.
It’s stunning. F-bomb stunning. Double-F-bomb stunning. Belichick ranks second on the all-time wins list. He won six Super Bowls as coach of the Patriots, and two more as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all time, in any sport.
Belichick’s opponents apparently hung their hats on multiple cheating scandals involving the Patriots. “The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff,” an unnamed Hall of Fame voter told ESPN.com. “It really bothered some of the guys.”
Or it was a convenient excuse to get back at someone they just don’t like.
Of the three Patriots cheating scandals, only one stuck to Belichick: Spygate I. Spygate II was never proven, and #Deflategate (a flawed, results-driven investigation with evidence of cheating that was inconclusive at best) was a Tom Brady problem. Belichick, in a memorable press conference that included a reference to Mona Lisa Vito, distanced himself from the question of whether someone was taking the air out of footballs before kickoff.
Even then, Belichick won three Super Bowls after #Deflategate happened, with no doubt that the footballs had enough air in them at all times.
I said it months ago and I’ll say it again now. The failure to put Belichick in on the first try strips the Hall of Fame and its voting process of all legitimacy and credibility. It’s a joke that he didn’t make it. Anyone who voted against his enshrinement should be stripped of the privilege, immediately.
That said, whoever it was that couldn’t set aside Belichick being a jerk to them or who have sneered at how he has conducted himself over the past year or got their way — proving yet again that no amount of power gets abused like hardly any at all.
So congratulations to those who didn’t want him in. You got your pound of flesh. At the expense of the integrity of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Bills are casting a wide net when it comes to searching for their next head coach. But not wide enough to encompass the man who won six Super Bowls with a division rival.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bills are not interested in Bill Belichick.
At one level, it’s surprising. If the Bills are going to interview someone like Philip Rivers for the job, why not kick the tires on the Tar Heels head coach? At a not-much-deeper level, Belichick has morphed from GOAT in a good way to goat in the usual sense.
He’s currently regarded as radioactive by most NFL teams looking for coaches. And he has only himself to blame, thanks to the bizarre distractions he created in North Carolina over the past year and his open hostility toward his long-time employer in New England. Any NFL owner who would be inclined to hire Belichick would have to assume that, eventually, some of that same venom will be directed to his next former team.
Before it even gets to that, the current employees of the football operation would have to worry about Belichick showing up and taking over, firing long-time employees and bringing in his own people (like Lombo). That’s what apparently derailed Belichick’s candidacy with the Falcons in 2024, after he was fired by the Patriots.
And so here we are. Three full hiring cycles. One interview for Bill Belichick. And no indication that he’ll ever have another chance to chase Don Shula — or to fend off Andy Reid — on the all-time wins list.
In his final playoff game as coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick suffered a 47-17 loss to the Bills.
Four years later, the Bills are looking for a replacement to Sean McDermott, whose seven straight playoff appearances weren’t enough to stave off a pink slip.
So if they’re willing to venture outside the box and interview former NFL quarterback and current high-school coach Philip Rivers, why not consider a six-time Super Bowl winner and current college head coach?
The fact that Belichick isn’t an immediate, no-brainer option for the Bills (or any other team) shows how far, and how fast, his NFL star has fallen. His name hasn’t come up once in the current cycle, despite 10 total openings.
Beyond the ill-advised decision to put a defensive coordinator in charge of the New England offense in 2022 and the baggage that a coach who previously railed against distractions has brought to Chapel Hill, there’s a nagging concern that Belichick would try to take over the entire operation.
Still, Belichick’s ability to cook up and implement a masterful game plan has never been questioned. And the Bills know it well.
Beyond Belichick’s 37-12 record against Buffalo from 2000 through 2023, he had a direct role in giving the Bills a loss in their first, and best, shot at a Super Bowl win. His game plan for slowing down the K-Gun offense, which focused on forcing them to run the ball (and shorten the game), delivered a 20-19 win for the Giants in Super Bowl XXV with a backup quarterback.
If the Bills are now casting a net wide enough to include a candidate with no pro or college coaching experience, why not talk to Belichick? Perhaps recent events have made him willing (and able) to just coach the team, and nothing else. Sure, he’d have to cut the cord with his consigliere, Mike Lombardi. And both owner Terry Pegula and G.M. Brandon Beane would need to be willing to make the leap of faith that Belichick could be trusted to just coach the team, and not try to run the show.
Buffalo’s obvious goal is to get over the top. If so, shouldn’t they at least talk to Belichick? Do their homework on him? Talk through whether there’s a way to make it work in a way that would deliver to Bills Mafia the Super Bowl win they’ve coveted since the moment Scott Norwood’s 47-yard field-goal attempt missed the mark?
Again, if they’re trying to figure out whether it could work with Rivers, whose NFL experience never resulted in playing in a Super Bowl, they should at least be discussing whether the greatest game-day coach in NFL history and his fists-full of rings could return to the AFC East, wreak havoc on a long-time employer he now hates, and potentially bust through the “proverbial playoff wall” like the Kool-Aid Man on bath salts.
When the Patriots fired Bill Belichick two years ago, most assumed he’d land on his feet with another NFL team.
In the third hiring cycle since his firing by the Patriots, Belichick has been publicly linked to only one job (the Falcons, in 2024).
This year, with 10 total openings, Belichick’s name has not come up. Except, of course, when he brought it up on his own.
In November 2025, Belichick issued a statement declaring he won’t pursue the opening with the Giants “despite circulating rumors.” (None were circulating.) The Giants, as we hear it, weren’t pleased with the pre-emptive announcement, since they had no intention of pursuing him.
If any other team has even kicked the tires on the Tar Heels coach, the interest has been kept tightly under wraps. Nothing has leaked about any inquiries or conversations or even basic background work (like, for example, figuring out the depth of and basis for his lingering animosity toward his former NFL employer) associated with making a potential hire.
The Buffalo job would be the one to watch, given the presence of quarterback Josh Allen and the ongoing rivalry with the Patriots. Belichick is regarded as the greatest game-day coach in league history. Yes, other factors have potentially complicated things, to say the least. Still, given the craziness of the past few weeks in the NFL, it would be foolish to completely rule out anything.
For now, though, the key word as it relates to Belichick’s NFL prospects is “nothing.” In three cycles, he’s had one announced interview. And while he has said he doesn’t want to return to the NFL, few in NFL circles believe it. The more reasonable interpretation would seem to be that it’s his way of dealing with the fact that no NFL team wants him.
During nearly two weeks of the 2026 coaching carousel, Bill Belichick’s name has not been mentioned once.
It now has been.
Belichick will be a guest analyst for the ACC Network coverage of the national championship game between Indiana and Miami, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Belichick’s first year as a college football coach at North Carolina did not go well. The Tar Heels went 4-8.
With eight (still nine, technically) current vacancies in the NFL, Belichick has been linked to none of them. And there’s been no indication that any team has been doing the kind of background work on Belichick that undoubtedly would consist of talking to folks at New England, where Belichick spent 24 years as a head coach before being fired in January 2024.
Many believe he’d love to resume his pursuit of Don Shula’s all-time wins record. In three hiring cycles, Belichick has gotten one interview, two years ago with the Falcons.
Belichick’s time in the NFL presumably has ended. The only question is whether his second year at North Carolina will go well enough to get him a third.
For now, the coach who generally has no use for the media will gladly collect a paycheck to talk about football in the media, as he did during his year out of the game — when he seemingly took any media job that came his way.
