A Complicated Voting System Muddled Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame Case

A voting process in its second year of usage will be heavily scrutinized after it resulted in Belichick’s stunning exclusion from Canton.

Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was denied induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Pro Football Hall of Fame process is broken. The voters have known it, and Bill Belichick is the unfortunate proof. 

On Tuesday night, reports surfaced that Belichick, an eight-time Super Bowl–winning coach, including six as a head coach with the Patriots, didn’t earn induction on his first attempt. Belichick is part of a five-man pool for the Senior, Coaches and Contributor candidates alongside New England owner Robert Kraft, Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson, Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood and 49ers fullback Roger Craig. 

While it remains unknown who did become part of the Class of 2026, Belichick's exclusion is a blaring siren for the Hall of Fame. 

“I’m flabbergasted,” said Jason Cole, a longtime Hall of Fame voter. “I think we have a math problem and a larger issue where we are putting coaches, contributors and senior members in the same voting system. All five of them are put together to be voted upon. That creates some imbalance of how you perceive players versus non-players.”

In 2024, the voting system was changed to determine who earns enshrinement into Canton starting with the ’25 class. For the Senior, Coach and Contributor pool, 50 voters cast three votes apiece. At least one of the five finalists must be elected to the Hall, with no more than three getting in for a given year. They must earn 80% of the vote to earn induction. If nobody gets 80%, then the highest vote-getter is enshrined. 

“If Bill was a standalone candidate like in the past, it might have been different,” texted one voter. “But they changed the voting format last year.”

As for Modern Era candidates, there are 15 finalists. From there, the group is whittled down to 10, and then seven. Once there are seven players, the 50 voters cast their ballots one time, writing down five names each. 

“[Belichick] was one of five competing for three spots,” texted one high-ranking voter. “He was the coach candidate, Kraft the contributor and Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood the senior candidates. We get to vote for three of the five, so the vote is generally split. Only two of the five got in last year. It’s hard getting 40 when five candidates are splitting the vote.”

While Craig, Anderson and Greenwood are all worthy of consideration, leaving Belichick off of any ballot is absurd. He’s not only the coach of the dynastic 2000s Patriots and the architect of two defenses that drove championship teams with the Giants in 1986 and ’90, but he’s also universally considered one of the greatest minds in NFL history, who showcased his genius by morphing his gameplans and schemes on a weekly basis. 

“I don’t get it. I get three or four holdouts. I don’t get 11,” one of the voters says. “Normally, I’d argue players deserve priority over owners and coaches, but when I put those three players over Kraft and Belichick, you have to be f------ kidding me.”

By making Belichick wait at least one more year for his bronze bust, it creates an unnecessary backlog at the coaching spot. One voter stated his concern about what this means for Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren and others, who now have to be pushed back. Their waits could become even longer if Chiefs coach Andy Reid retires soon with his three titles and six Super Bowl appearances. 

Common sense says the voting system should be viewed as a two-year failed experiment, a system many voters raised concerns about when it was implemented. At the time, the Hall of Fame explained to the voters it didn’t believe the new method would cause problems based on having input from mathematicians. 

With Belichick’s snub getting a firestorm of attention, how will the Hall of Fame respond? 

“That’s a question for them,” a frustrated voter says. “They adopted this system. A lot of us knew it was a problem at the time. But they stuck with it, and did their studies and believed it would turn out. They didn’t think it would be a big problem and they sold it to us as that. It’s going to be a big f------ problem.”

With the official announcement of the 2026 class coming at NFL Honors on Feb. 5, the Belichick fiasco will loom leading up to Super Bowl LX. For the Hall of Fame, its annual moment to shine is now shrouded by dark clouds of confusion and befuddlement from all corners, including those tasked with determining the ultimate fates of each candidate.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame altered its process. The next process should be how to fix what has become a disaster of Belichickian proportions. 

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