Bill Belichick Advances in Hall of Fame Race
The renowned coach Bill Belichick, winner of six Super Bowls, has been selected as one of the 12 finalists for the 2026 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Belichick, who meets his first year of eligibility after the rule changes that require coaches to be out of the NFL for a full season before being considered, is in a privileged position.
Alongside him, coaches Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan, and George Seifert also advanced, all with two Super Bowl titles, as well as Mike Holmgren, another winner of the prestigious championship.
The list of candidates is completed by Bill Arnsparger, Alex Gibbs, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, and Clark Shaughnessy.
A committee will select nine semifinalists next month, and then a single finalist. Holmgren reached this stage last year, but did not get the final vote.
Belichick led the New England Patriots dynasty in the 2000s, achieving six Super Bowl titles and three additional game appearances over an 18-year period, from 2001 to 2018. His 333 victories, between regular season and playoffs, position him as the second coach with the most wins, only behind Don Shula, who has 347.
Before taking over in New England, Belichick was also a prominent defensive assistant, winning two Super Bowls as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
His time in New England ended after the 2023 season, and he is currently coaching at the University of North Carolina, with a 2-4 record in his first season.
Belichick, Coughlin, Shanahan, and Seifert are some of the 14 coaches who have won multiple Super Bowls. Nine of them are already in the Hall of Fame, and Andy Reid is still active.
Coughlin, who coached for 20 years for Jacksonville and the New York Giants, led the Jaguars to the AFC final in their second season as a franchise and again in 1999. However, his greatest success came when he took over the Giants in 2004.
He led the franchise to win the Super Bowl in the 2007 season, when New York defeated the undefeated Patriots, and repeated the feat four years later, again defeating Belichick and Tom Brady. Coughlin finished with a regular season record of 170-150.
Seifert, for his part, contributed to San Francisco winning two titles as defensive coordinator under the direction of Bill Walsh, and then obtained two more as head coach after succeeding Walsh in 1989.
He achieved at least 10 victories in the eight seasons he was in charge of the 49ers, with a record of 98-30 (.766), the best for any coach on a single team with at least 100 games. However, he could not replicate that success in his three seasons with Carolina, where he had a record of 16-32.
Shanahan was the offensive coordinator under Seifert on the San Francisco team that won the 1994 championship, and then conquered consecutive titles as head coach in Denver in 1997-98. Shanahan finished with a record of 170-138 for the Raiders, Broncos and Washington, and his impact on the game remains strong today through his disciples, including his son, Kyle, who coaches San Francisco.
Four other current NFL coaches worked under Shanahan in Washington: Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur, and Raheem Morris. The offensive system he introduced in the league, which combined the outside zone run with the passing game, remains the most predominant in the league today.
Gibbs was the offensive line coach for a long time for Shanahan in Denver and helped implement the zone run scheme that was the basis of the offense.
Holmgren preceded Shanahan as offensive coordinator in San Francisco and also had a great impact on future coaches, with Reid and Jon Gruden winning Super Bowls after working under Holmgren in Green Bay. Holmgren had a record of 161-111 for the Packers and Seahawks, winning the title in 1996. He also reached the Super Bowl the following season in Green Bay and then again in the 2005 season in Seattle.
