It turns out winning six Super Bowls as a head coach isn’t good enough to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did not make the Pro Football Hall of Fame class in his first year of eligibility, Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN reported Tuesday, citing four sources with firsthand knowledge of the outcome.
Voting earlier in January saw Belichick fall short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for induction, the report said. He received a call from a Hall representative last Friday afternoon with the news that he won’t be inducted in Canton, Ohio, this summer, the report added.
“Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” Belichick reportedly asked an associate. He also won two as a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
“What does a guy have to do?” he said to another associate.
On top of the record number of times he helped the Patriots hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Belichick posted a 333-178 record, including postseason games. He made three more Super Bowls as the Patriots head coach, but lost.
Additionally, Belichick also ranks first as a head coach in conference championship wins (nine) and playoff wins (31). His 302 regular-season wins ranks third most all time.
ESPN added, citing sources, that Spygate and Deflategate, two cheating scandals that emerged during Belichick’s New England tenure, came up in deliberations among voters. It’s unclear if those incidents were the exact reasoning for his omission.
A source familiar with Belichick’s thinking told ESPN, “Politics kept him out. He doesn’t believe this is a reflection on his accomplishments.”
One veteran Hall voter told ESPN: “The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff. It really bothered some of the guys.”
Social media reacted to the news with confusion and anger.
Three-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt posted, “This has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can’t be the actual NFL Hall of Fame.”
Three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes, who lost one ring because of Belichick and New England, posted: “Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible.”
Belichick in 2025 coached his first ever season in college football. He went 4-8 with the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The full list of inductees, which includes Patriots owner Rob Kraft, will come out next week during Super Bowl festivities.
Ken Belson of The New York Times shares a funny anecdote about the Patriots owner’s love for the spotlight from his new book “Every Day Is Sunday.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
