William Belichick, the celebrated coach with six Super Bowl victories, has progressed to the final group of 12 coaches under consideration for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2026.
Belichick becomes eligible this year, thanks to recently enacted regulations that have shortened the required period a coach must be retired from the NFL before Hall of Fame consideration to just one complete season.
Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan, and George Seifert, all of whom have two Super Bowl titles to their names, also advanced in the selection process, alongside another Super Bowl-winning coach, Mike Holmgren.
Rounding out the list of coaching candidates are Bill Arnsparger, Alex Gibbs, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, and Clark Shaughnessy.
A specially appointed selection committee will narrow down the candidates to nine semifinalists in the coming month, and then eventually select one finalist. Holmgren was chosen for this finalist spot last year, but ultimately was not selected for induction. This coach will be considered alongside one contributor and three seniors candidates. Between one and three of these five finalists will be inducted into the Hall, contingent on receiving at least 80% of the vote from the broader selection committee.
Belichick masterminded the New England Patriots’ dominant run in the 2000s, guiding the team to six Super Bowl championships and three additional appearances in the title game over an 18-year stretch from 2001 to 2018. Belichick’s total of 333 regular season and playoff victories with both New England and Cleveland is second only to Don Shula’s record of 347.
Before his tenure in New England, Belichick also distinguished himself as one of football’s premier defensive minds, securing two more Super Bowl rings as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
Belichick’s leadership of New England concluded after the 2023 season, and he has since transitioned to coaching at the collegiate level at North Carolina, where the team currently holds a 2-4 record in his debut season.
Belichick, Coughlin, Shanahan, and Seifert are included in the group of 14 coaches who have achieved multiple Super Bowl victories. Nine of these coaches have already been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, with the exception of Andy Reid, who is still actively coaching and thus not yet eligible for consideration.
Coughlin dedicated two decades to coaching with Jacksonville and the Giants. He steered the Jaguars to the AFC Championship game in their second season as a franchise and repeated the feat in the 1999 season. However, his most notable achievements came after taking the helm of the Giants in 2004.
He guided the Giants to a Super Bowl victory in the 2007 season, as New York surprisingly defeated the previously undefeated Patriots, and then once again defeated Belichick, Tom Brady, and New England four years later. Coughlin concluded his career with a regular-season record of 170-150.
Seifert assisted San Francisco in claiming two championships as the team’s defensive coordinator under Bill Walsh, and subsequently added two more titles as the head coach, succeeding Walsh in 1989.
He consistently achieved at least 10 wins in each of his eight seasons leading the 49ers, compiling a 98-30 record (.766), which stands as the highest winning percentage among coaches with at least 100 games coached for a single team. However, he could not replicate this level of success during his three seasons with Carolina, where he went 16-32.
Shanahan served as the offensive coordinator under Seifert on San Francisco’s 1994 championship-winning team and then went on to secure consecutive titles as the head coach of Denver in 1997-98. Shanahan amassed a 170-138 record across his tenures with the Raiders, Broncos, and Washington, and his influence on the game remains significant through his coaching progeny, including his son, Kyle, who currently coaches San Francisco.
Four other current NFL head coaches honed their skills under Shanahan in Washington — Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur, and Raheem Morris — and the offensive strategy he introduced to the league, emphasizing the outside zone run in conjunction with the passing game, continues to be the predominant system in the NFL today.
Gibbs held the position of offensive line coach for Shanahan for an extended period in Denver and played a crucial role in implementing the zone-running scheme that formed the foundation of the team’s offensive approach.
Holmgren preceded Shanahan as the offensive coordinator in San Francisco and also had a profound influence on future coaches, with Reid and Jon Gruden both achieving Super Bowl victories after working under Holmgren in Green Bay. Holmgren posted a 161-111 record with the Packers and Seahawks, securing a Super Bowl title in 1996. He also led his teams to the Super Bowl the following season in Green Bay and again in the 2005 season with Seattle.
