Wetzel: Belichick’s first-ballot bid was a no-brainer

If Bill Belichick isn’t a Hall of Fame coach, as the committee that determines such things believes, then you might as well not even have a Pro Football Hall of Fame.

ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported Tuesday that the legendary Belichick failed to earn the necessary support for enshrinement during a Jan. 13 voting session.

It was Belichick’s first appearance on the ballot, and while he’ll get additional chances in future years, it is patently absurd that he didn’t garner at least 80% support from the 50-person selection committee. In other words, at least 11 voters somehow didn’t include him on their ballot.

Whether it is the people voting or the process of the voting or the arrogance of the voters, it doesn’t change the absurdity here. If the intent were to humiliate Belichick because of Spygate, or his gruff demeanor, or his tabloid personal life, or his 4-8 season at the University of North Carolina, it didn’t work.

The humiliation is completely on the committee and, in turn, on the Hall of Fame itself.

Most of the voters are veterans of the game or current and retired NFL media, a list that this year includes former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and general manager Bill Polian, both Hall of Famers.

Van Natta and Wickersham reported that Polian told other voters he believed Belichick should «wait a year» due to the 2007 Spygate case, when the New England Patriots were determined to have filmed the New York Jets‘ coaching signals from an unauthorized location.

Since when did retroactive morality become part of the process?

The final result has stunned even committee members, who cast their ballots anonymously and don’t know the results. One told ESPN that while the scandals were brought up during a Zoom meeting, the discussion was tepid enough that the voter expected Belichick would cruise in. The voter recalls someone actually mentioning it would be «embarrassing» for the committee if he didn’t.

It certainly is.

Belichick won 301 regular-season games as the head coach in Cleveland and, most notably, New England. That trails only Don Shula and George Halas. He won an additional 31 postseason games, more than anyone else. He captured 17 division titles with the Patriots, nine AFC championships and six Super Bowls, each the most of all time.

He designed innovative offenses, revolutionary game strategies and a disciplined pursuit of perfection. One time, New England reached 18-0 and almost achieved it.

As a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, he won two more Super Bowls, including the 1986 team that allowed just 23 points in three playoff games.

Here’s how discussion of his candidacy should have gone.

«Up next, Bill Belichick.»

«In.»

Seriously, what are we doing here? The Hall of Fame is a museum, a fun place to take your kids, reminisce about past glories and buy a T-shirt. Belichick’s teams and players are already all over the Hall. You simply can’t write the history of football without him. He inspired everything from frayed hoodies to motivational quotes.

The debate isn’t whether he’s a Hall of Famer — it’s whether he’s the greatest coach of all time. The worst thing you can say about him is he never won big without Tom Brady. Fine, debate away, but that isn’t the bar he needed to clear.

Apologies to all the lesser-accomplished Hall of Fame coaches who don’t deserve to be dragged into this, but …

Don Coryell went just 111-83-1, was victorious in just three playoff games and never even reached a Super Bowl. Tom Flores captured two Super Bowls but posted just six winning seasons in his entire career. Marv Levy never won a Lombardi.

We can go on.

If they are all deserving, and no one is arguing they aren’t, then how isn’t Belichick? If someone’s résumé isn’t the determining factor, then what should be?

Did Belichick need to be more polite in news conferences? Did he have to play nice with his peers?

As for Belichick’s run-ins with the rulebook, he’s no angel, but he was never cited in Deflategate. That was all placed on Brady. The NFL did find him responsible for Spygate, but he and the franchise paid the punishment — a $500,000 fine for BB and a $250,000 fine plus the loss of a first-round pick for the Pats.

If anything, the continued success despite the lost draft capital should count in his favor.

Nowhere in the Spygate penalty was there a note for Hall voters to address it again later. If the NFL wanted to keep him from enshrinement, the way MLB has with Pete Rose, then that’s on it. It’s not the job of Hall voters to do the dirty work for leagues.

But here we are.

Bill Belichick, perhaps the most obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer of all time, isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

It’s the committee that should be voted out.