Report: Bill Belichick received 39 Hall of Fame votes, one short of first-ballot selection

Bill Belichick fell one vote short of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot selection, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac. ESPN reported earlier this week that the legendary head coach was not selected.

Belichick found out late last week that he would not be going into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported. He won eight Super Bowls during his time in the NFL – six as New England Patriots head coach and two as New York Giants defensive coordinator – and ranks second on the all-time wins list, including the postseason.

However, Belichick fell short of the 40 votes, or 80%, required for enshrinement. According to Dulac, who’s a Hall of Fame voter, he wound up one vote away from going in on the first ballot.

“To be elected, a candidate has to receive at least 80% of the votes, or, in this instance, 40 of the 50,” Dulac wrote in a column Friday, as noted by Pro Football Talk. “Belichick, according to a published report, did not. He received 39.”

Belichick spent 24 seasons as the Patriots’ head coach, leading the franchise to six Super Bowls during that time. He departed after the 2023 season and later became the head coach at North Carolina, where he took over for Mack Brown in 2025.

On the whole, during his legendary coaching career, Bill Belichick had a 302-165 overall record to go with a 31-13 mark in the postseason. His 302 regular-season wins put him third all-time behind George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328) on the all-time winningest coaches list. Counting the postseason, Belichick sits just behind Shula’s 347 total victories on the all-time list.

Tom Brady: ‘I don’t understand’ Bill Belichick snub

The reaction to Bill Belichick’s snub poured in from across the football world after ESPN’s report surfaced Tuesday. That includes from Belichick’s former quarterback, Tom Brady, who ripped the selection process if the legendary coach could not get in on the first try.

“I don’t understand it,” Brady told Mike Salk and Brock Huard on Seattle Sports. “I mean, I was with him every day, if he’s not a first ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous, because people deserve it. And he’s incredible. 

“There’s no coach I’d rather play for. If I’m taking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I’m taking Bill Belichick. So that’s enough said. There’s nothing outside of that, you know, again, when it comes down to votes, and you know, popularity and all that, like you know, then welcome to the world of voting. And we may as well go, you know, try out for the Oscars or whatever. And, you know, get a big panel to tell you if you’re good or not. So it’s the way it works.”