3 Reasons Voters Likely Voted No

New England Patriot Head Coach Bill Belichick holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XXXIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida on February 6, 2005. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

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Bill Belichick being left off the NFL Hall of Fame ballot sparked outrage from Tom Brady to LeBron James. Miffed, many sports celebrities and football fans wondered, how could a coach with the most Super Bowl wins (six) in NFL history not be a first ballot hall of famer?

The Hall of Fame snub created such a shock that members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee faced backlash. Meanwhile, the Pro Football Hall of Fame issued a statement, warning voters that if they “violated the selection process bylaws, action will be taken,” including removal as a member of the selection committee.

The snub indicates Belichick’s descent from NFL deity to college punchline. The Belichick era in New England produced the “Patriot Way,” a no-nonsense philosophy rooted in discipline, accountability and excellence. However, Belichick’s reign in New England included cheating scandals and a bitter divorce from Brady, widely regarded as the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Then came the circus at North Carolina, where Belichick grabbed more headlines for his college-aged girlfriend than he did for football wins. He went 4-8 in his first season.

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Still, before Belichick’s disastrous debut as a college coach, many considered him the greatest coach in NFL history. Belichick has 333 career wins. Only Don Shula has more more (347). So the moment Belichick became eligible, his induction seemed inevitable.

Nope.

Resentment, revenge, and Spygate emerged as top reasons for the snub. Indignant pundits blamed sportswriters with an agenda and Abe Polian with an ax to grind. However, the reasons for the hall of fame snub might be more nuanced. The following are three reasons voters likely voted no to making Belichick a first-ballot hall of famer.

1. Spygate And Deflategate Cheating Scandals

Baseball legend Pete Rose went to his grave never being inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball. Baseball’s all-time home runs leader Barry Bonds and pitching legend Roger Clemon would be first-ballot Hall of Famers if they had not been implicated in PED scandals.

Perhaps NFL Hall of Fame voters sought to hold Belichick accountable for a cheating scandal that left a cloud over the Patriots’ dynasty.

ESPN reported that multiple sources said Spygate and Deflategate came up during selection committee voting deliberations.

In 2007, news broke that a New England Patriots assistant videotaped New York Jets coaches. The NFL allows teams to videotape opponents, but not from unauthorized locations. As more details unfolded, NFL officials discovered the Patriots had been taping opponents’ signals for more than six years.

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Despite Patriot fans attempts to dismiss Spygate as irrelevant, the videotaping scandal resulted in a then NFL record $500,000 fine and loss of a first-round draft pick. Belichick was fined $250,000. Suspensions grew when the NFL destroyed the evidence and even congress got involved.

Although the Patriots went on to win three Super Bowls after Spygate, the scandal tainted the team’s dynasty and the idea that they “cheated” lingered.

In 2015, the Patriots were accused of intentionally deflating the balls of AFC Championship opponent Indianapolis Colts. After an investigation, the NFL concluded the Tom Brady likely knew about the practice. Brady was suspended for four games and fined $1 million.

The incident added to the Patriots reputation as cheaters.

The Deflategate fallout is one reason sports talk insinuated Polian, a member of the Hall of Fame who has a vote, was behind Belichick’s snub. However Polian told reporters he double checked his vote. He voted for Belichick.

2. The NFL Has Changed Its Hall Of Fame Voting Process

Anybody can nominate a player. However, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee votes on who gets into the Hall of Fame.

According to the NFL Hall of Fame, this committee consists of one media representative from each pro football city — with two from New York and two from Los Angeles. There can be up to 17 at-large Selectors, who are active members of the media or persons involved in professional football, and one representative of the Pro Football Writers of America. Media members are subject to annual approval by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors.

The Selection Committee meets annually, right before the Super Bowl to elect new members to be enshrined. A candidate must receive votes from at least 80% of the full Committee to be elected.

The hitch? The modern day players list might motivate some voters to prioritize “last-chance” candidates.

As part of the selection process, voters get a list of 25 Modern-Era Players Semifinalists (plus ties, if any, for the 25th position) in November. Players who are not selected within 20 years of their retirement, move from the Modern-Era list to a Seniors category.

During a Jan. 28 broadcast of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, sports commentator Michael Wilbon said that as a former voter he often prioritized last chance candidates. He believes enough voters may have voted for former San Francisco 49ers runner back Roger Craig and Steelers great L.C. Greenwood over Belichick, figuring the coach was a shoe in. One Hall of Fame voter, Kansas City Star columnist Vahe Gregorian, admitted he left Belichick off the list and voted for Greenwood and Craig.

Yahoo Sports reported that Gregorian and other voters felt “due to recently instituted Hall of Fame rules, voters could only vote for, at most, three of those five, creating a situation where five men each needed 40 votes from a room where there were only 150 total votes to go around.”

3. Bill Belichick’s Post Brady Drop Off

Another reason voters may have left Belichick off the Hall of Fame ballot is the post-Brady era.

Sans Brady, Belichick has a career losing record. He is 249-75 with Brady as quarterback. He’s 83-111 without Brady. Of course, most coaches win more games with a Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm. However, the drop off (.769 to .442) is glaring.

Compare Belichick’s Brady-less career to Shula without Dan Marino, Andy Reid before Patrick Mahomes or Tony Dungy before Peyton Manning. Shula has a .690 record without Marino. Shula won two Super Bowls, went to five and went undefeated before Marino arrived. Shula took two different teams and four different quarterbacks to the Super Bowl. Dungy led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from laughing stock to a defensive powerhouse. Despite taking over a perennial loser, Dungy has .543 winning percentage as coach of the Buccaneers. Reid went to the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles and has career winning percentage in regular and post-season play with both teams.

Belichick has zero Super Bowl appearances and one playoff win without Brady, and that came with the Cleveland Browns, where he went 37-45. The one year Brady was out with an injury, the Patriots missed the playoffs.

When Brady left the Patriots and won a Super Bowl in Tampa, at age 43, Belichick’s brilliance took a hit. Some started to wonder, maybe Belichick wasn’t the greatest coach of all time, just a good coach with the greatest quarterback.

No matter what the reasons, Belichick, his former Patriots players and NFL fans, are bewildered by the snub. There have been calls for transparency, firings and a revamped voting system. Those things may come. But Belichick is not a First Ballot Hall of Famer and that will never change.