New England Patriots
“You’d have to ask the voters. I didn’t have a say in it.”
Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls during his tenure in New England. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Bill Belichick is on to 2027 when it comes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Despite winning eight total Super Bowls as a coach (six with New England, two with the New York Giants as a defensive coordinator), Belichick was not named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility earlier this year.
Belichick did not receive the 40 of 50 necessary votes from the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s selection committee to gain entry into Canton later this year, with the committee’s voting results not made public.
Appearing on Fox News Media’s “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” on Tuesday, Belichick gave an expected response when asked about getting snubbed by the Hall of Fame’s voting committee.
“Well, it’s out of my control,” Belichick said. “And honestly, I’ve been very focused on my job at the University of North Carolina and the players and the university there. So, you know, whatever happens, happens. But I’m proud of what we accomplished as teams at New England and certainly at the Giants, and proud of those relationships. So that’s what matters most.”
Belichick’s omission drew reactions from all across the sports world, including Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, J.J. Watt, and others.
As expected, multiple former Patriots also voiced their confusion and frustration with the Hall of Fame’s voting committee’s call, including Tom Brady.
“I don’t understand it. I was with him every day,” Brady said during an appearance on Seattle sports radio show “Brock & Salk” earlier this year. “If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer then there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it.”
“He’s incredible, there’s no coach I’d rather play for. If I’m picking one coach to go out there and win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I’m taking Bill Belichick,” Brady added. “So, that’s enough said. Outside of that, when you come down to votes and popularity and all that, then welcome to the world of voting. You may as well go try out for the Oscars or whatever and get a big panel to tell you whether you’re good or not.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft — who has had an icy relationship with Belichick since the former head coach’s exit from New England in 2024 — also called out the Hall of Fame during a public statement in January. Kraft, like Belichick, also didn’t earn a spot in the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
“Whatever perceptions may exist about any personal differences between Bill and me, I strongly believe Bill Belichick’s record and body of work speak for themselves,” Kraft said. “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.
“He is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”
Speaking to Hannity, Belichick — now head coach at the University of North Carolina — expressed gratitude over all of the support he’s received over the last few months.
“It’s great to hear that support from so many people and from so many different fields, not just football, but many others,” Belichick said. “And so, I was very appreciative of that support and the positive comments that they made.
Belichick, who will once again be up for induction in 2027, didn’t want to get into the rationale for why he didn’t make the cut in his first year of eligibility.
“You’d have to ask the voters. I didn’t have a say in it. So, you know, it was part of the Hall of Fame voting in 2019 on the 100-year anniversary of the NFL and that type of thing, but that’s different from what happened this time. So I don’t know—you’d have to talk to the voters. Some of them said whatever their opinion is, I’ll let them talk about it.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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