The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2026 honorees Thursday, and the most notable name was the one missing.
Bill Belichick, the longtime New England Patriots head coach who won eight Super Bowls during his coaching career, was not inducted in his first year of eligibility.
The class of 2026 will instead include quarterback Drew Brees, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, kicker Adam Vinatieri, linebacker Luke Kuechly, and running back Roger Craig.
Reports of Belichick's snub first arose in late January,when ESPN reportedhe did not receive enough votes to enter the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. Among the reasons Belichick was not inducted are his involvement in cheating scandals, such as Spygate and Deflategate, according to ESPN.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was on the same ballot Belichick and Craig, was also not selected.
Since reports of Belichick's snub became public, a few voters have explained their decision not to vote for the coach who has the second-most victories in history.
Mike Chappell of FOX 59/CBS 4 in Indianacited the Spygate scandal— a 2007 controversy in which Belichick and the Patriots were disciplined for illegally videotaping opponents' sidelines. Chappell also chose to vote for Kraft over Belichick.
Meanwhile, Vahe Gregorian of The Kansas City Star wrote that hefavored other candidateswho had a more limited window to be enshrined than Belichick.
The Hall's voting procedures limit the number of people who can be included on a single ballot. Belichick — as well as Kraft — was not a modern-era finalist, but in a separate, five-person grouping of which voters could only select three.
Gregorian wrote that he felt "duty-bound" to vote for the senior players, such as Craig, "who most likely won't ever have a hearing again as more senior candidates enter the pool and fresh cases get made for others."
Belichick, 73, last coached in the NFL during the 2023 season.
He began his coaching career with the then-Baltimore Colts in 1975. In 1979, he became the special teams coordinator and a defensive assistant for the New York Giants. Belichick was promoted to defensive coordinator by Bill Parcells in 1985, and held that position during two Super Bowl wins.
In 1991, Belichick accepted the head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns, where he lasted five seasons and won one playoff game. From 1996 to 1999, he was again an assistant for Parcells, for one year in New England and then three with the New York Jets.
In 2000, after resigning as the Jets' head coach after only one day, Belichick took the same job with the Patriots and began the most successful 24-season run in NFL history.
Belichick struggled in his later years, however, posting a 12-22 record in his final two seasons with New England. He returned to coaching in the collegiate ranks, taking over at North Carolina in December 2024.
In his first season with the Tar Heels, Belichick went 4-8.
