New bylaws for the Pro Football Hall of Fame could see former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wearing a gold jacket much sooner than we thought.
On Friday, it was announced that the hall’s board of directors approved revisions to the bylaws that will change the waiting period for coaches to become eligible for football’s most exclusive fraternity.
Until these changes, the waiting period for former coaches was the same as former players, with five seasons spent away from the game garnering them eligibility. But as of Friday, that waiting period for coaches is now only one season.
This means if Belichick does not take a job at any point during the 2024 NFL season, he would be eligible for Canton’s class of 2026.
There’s been a bevy of reporting and speculation around Belichick’s desire to get back into coaching, saying his recent foray into sports media is a mechanism to rehab his image from the gruff, tough-to-deal-with football boss to a more friendly, approachable figure who could more-easily relate to younger players.
But if Belichick decides he enjoys the talking-head role more than the sideline headset, and the phone never rings for another head coaching gig, the six-time Super Bowl champion almost certainly will have a bronze bust waiting for him in northeast Ohio two summers from now.
Here’s Belichick’s unassailable hall of fame resume:
- Nine Super Bowl appearances in 24 seasons as head coach of the Patriots, going 6-3 on football’s biggest stage
- The record for the most Super Bowl rings with eight, as he adds two more from his time as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants (Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXV)
- The record for most Super Bowl wins as a head coach
- Combining his two appearances with the Giants, and one as a Patriots assistant in 1996, the record for most Super Bowl appearances with 12
- The record for most playoff wins as a head coach with 31
- The most division titles as a head coach with 17
- A regular season record with the Patriots of 266-121, to go along with a playoff record of 30-12
It goes without saying that this resume almost certainly will have Belichick inducted on his first ballot.
Battles with the media and Kraft family be damned, the man could - and probably still can - coach football at an elite level.
Another former Patriots head coach could also be eligible for the hall in 2026 under the new bylaws, as Pete Carroll willingly coached his final game with the Seahawks in 2023 after 14 years at the helm in Seattle. He was 137-89 as their head coach, going 1-1 in consecutive Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014.
This was Carroll’s third stop as a head coach at the pro level. His first stop was a 6-10 season with the New York Jets in 1994. After going one-and-done in New York, he was hired by the Patriots ahead of the 1997 season, where he would go 27-21 over the next three seasons.
Does Canton feel like a stretch for Carroll? Not when you see the group of coaches from the Super Bowl era who already have bronze busts.
Here’s the list:
- George Allen, Class of 2002
- Paul Brown, Class of 1967
- Don Coryell, Class of 2023
- Bill Cowher, Class of 2020
- Tony Dungy, Class of 2016
- Tom Flores, Class of 2021
- Joe Gibbs, Class of 1996
- Sid Gillman, Class of 1983
- Bud Grant, Class of 1994
- Jimmy Johnson, Class of 2020
- Tom Landry, Class of 1990
- Marv Levy, Class of 2001
- Vince Lombardi, Class of 1971
- John Madden, Class of 2006
- Chuck Noll, Class of 1993
- Bill Parcells, Class of 2013
- Don Shula, Class of 1997
- Hank Stram, Class of 2003
- Dick Vermeil, Class of 2022
- Bill Walsh, Class of 1993
Some enormous names on that list, for sure.
But when you stack up Carroll’s resume against the likes of coaches like Vermeil, Dungy and Cowher, you realize he’s right on par for both wins and rings.
While Carroll’s candidacy can be debated, Belichick’s cannot.
That iconic scowl will, eventually, live on in bronze forever.