The mystery surrounding Bill Belichick and his rejection by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and its 50 member selection committee is one of the more fascinating in the recent history of the enterprise of enshrinment.

Belichick and his six Super Bowl rings as a head coach would appear to 99.9% of football fans to be an automatic selection to Canton. However, he reportedly fell short of the 40 votes required.

There are several things unusual about the case. One is the Hall of Fame’s voting requirements itself that pitted Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft against three senior player nominees where voters could only select three out of the five. Another was the fact that the news leaked at all when it is usually kept under wraps until the Hall’s announcement. Finally, there is all the rumor and innuendo surrounding just how it happened, whether it was various voters politicking, making personal stands, or keeping Belichick out because of personal distrust or the Spygate controversy.

So far, just 2 out of at least 11 voters have stepped forward to give their reasoning for not selecting Bill Belichick. Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star cited his desire to vote for the three players that may not ever have another chance at election. Mike Chappell of Fox 59/CBS 4 in Indianapolis cited Spygate and the heavy punishments laid out to Belichick by the NFL as proof of what a stain it is on his legacy.

Maybe you’d expect someone from Indianapolis, who has covered the Colts for decades and lived through the entire Manning-Brady rivalry to take that approach. But would it hold water for all the others? And could there be another reason?

Of course, the one person you would expect to find out is Pablo Torre. And in a conversation with Mina Kimes and Dan Le Batard, he cited at least two other factors that percolated amongst voters and worked against Belichick. One was his record without Tom Brady, which seems like a huge stretch given the sheer volume of wins and accomplishments. The other is much more interesting, the belief that Bill Belichick still wants to return to coaching in the NFL.

Hall-of-Fame voters tell us they considered three knocks against Bill Belichick on a Zoom call before snubbing him:

– Spygate
– Belichick’s record without Tom Brady
– a possible return as NFL head coach pic.twitter.com/4JL0IwEAw8

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) January 30, 2026

“It’s possible that Belichick could come back as a coach and they didn’t want to vote him in if it’s possible that he might still be in the NFL,” Torre relayed. “And that to me is funny just as a matter of Belichick is absolutely desperate to get back in the league and no one will let him back in. And that might also be the reason according to at least one voter that they would like to not vote on him right now.”

Bill Belichick is of course still very active in coaching. And when he didn’t get an NFL job after leaving the Patriots, he shocked the world by joining the North Carolina Tar Heels and trying his hand at the college game. And if you were at all conscious in the last year, you’re probably aware that it has not gone well.

It’s an open secret that Bill Belichick wants to coach again in the NFL as he is 26 wins shy of Don Shula and the all-time wins record. But after his bizarre tenure at North Carolina and the way he was shut out during the last hiring cycle at 73 years old, and the chances of him returning to an NFL sideline are about as high as Bruce Coslet or Rich Kotite.

While it’s an interesting theory, this argument seems to be among the weakest of the bunch. First, Belichick’s odds of coming back to the NFL are incredibly slim. Second, there’s nothing prohibiting his election if he were to return. If he’s eligible for selection, he is eligible for selection. You may not agree with it, but you could at least understand Gregorian and Chappell’s cases. But the arguments around Brady and a possible return to coaching seem to be placeholders for something else.