Noah Fries | staff writer

Former NFL Head Coach Bill Belichick, widely regarded for his tenure with the New England Patriots that spanned 24 years and six Super Bowl rings, will not be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, according to reports released on Jan. 27.

Belichick failed to reach 40 of the 50 votes required for a first-year candidate to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The decision by the Hall of Fame committee left Belichick “puzzled” and “disappointed,” according to sources close to the head coach.

Belichick, who has a career NFL coaching record of 333-178 including playoffs, is the second-winningest coach in league history. Only longtime Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula has more with 347.

It was widely considered that the second-winningest coach in history — as well as the winningest Super Bowl coach in history — would be a guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The committee is mostly made up of NFL reporters who have been around the game, but is also made up of other former coaches and general managers as well.

In a news conference on Feb. 2, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell emphasized that the league itself has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame voting process and noted that he believes Belichick will get into the Hall eventually.

“Bill Belichick’s record goes without saying, same with the Patriots and [Patriots owner, chairman and CEO] Robert Kraft, who is also a candidate,” Goodell said. “They are spectacular. They have contributed so much to this game, and I believe they will be Hall of Famers.”

Kraft released a statement on Jan. 27 regarding Belichick and his exclusion from the Hall.

“As head coach of the New England Patriots for more than two decades, he set the standard for on-field excellence, preparation, and sustained success in the free agency and salary cap era of the National Football League,” Kraft said. “He is the greatest coach of all time, and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”

According to a story published by ESPN on Jan. 27, an anonymous voter indicated that former general manager Jim Polian — who was the GM for the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts during the Patriots dynasty — believed that Belichick deserved to “wait a year” to be inducted to the Hall of Fame as penance for Spygate, the first of the Patriots’ two scandals.

It was also reported that Polian tried to influence other voters to feel the same way, but Polian denied these remarks.

After stating that he did not remember who he voted for, he said that he was “shocked to learn that Bill didn’t get in” and that Belichick “deserves to be in the Hall,” according to ESPN.

The Spygate scandal in 2007 involved the Patriots videotaping opposing coaches’ signals from their sideline, specifically in a game against the New York Jets on Sept. 9, 2007. Videotaping other coaches is allowed from designated areas, but this videotaping on the field was deemed to be illegal by Goodell, and the tapes were smashed.

Belichick was fined $500,000 — the largest fine against a head coach in the league’s history to this day. The Patriots were also fined $250,000 and were stripped of their 2008 first-round pick.

In 2015, the Patriots found themselves in another scandal with the Deflategate. This scandal involved an allegation that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pushed for the game balls in the AFC Championship to be intentionally deflated. Belichick adamantly denied knowing anything about the situation but was considered by the public to be guilty by association.

Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season, while the Patriots were fined $1 million and were stripped of their first-round pick in the 2016 draft, as well as their fourth-round selection in the 2017 draft.

It is believed that being involved with these two major events held Belichick out of the Hall of Fame, despite being one of the most well-known and well-respected coaches in league history.

On Feb. 3, ESPN reported that Kraft, who was also up for potential enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, would not be selected for entry in his first year of eligibility as a contributor either.

Similar to Belichick, Kraft has been a key contributor to the Patriots since he took over ownership in 1994. All six of the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories have come under Kraft, who could achieve his seventh with a Patriots victory in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu