Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub: Who voted for him? Full committee list

The selection process for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is under a microscope this week after Bill Belichick was shockingly snubbed in his first year on the ballot.

The former Patriots coach, who won six Super Bowls in New England, was widely expected to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but that won’t be happening this year. So how did arguably the greatest coach in NFL history get left out?

To understand that, you have to break down the voting process, which is a little complicated, so let’s walk through it.

• There are 50 members of the Hall of Fame selection committee. The committee is made up mostly of media members, along with several Hall of Fame coaches, front-office members and players.
• To be enshrined this year, Belichick needed at least 40 votes.
• Belichick was competing with four other finalists for a spot in Canton. He was up against the three senior finalists (Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood), along with one contributor finalist (Patriots owner Robert Kraft).
• Each member of the selection committee is allowed to vote for up to three candidates. Members are not asked to rank them. If a candidate’s name appears on a ballot, that counts as a vote.
• Since Belichick didn’t make it, that means he was left off at least 11 ballots.
• The voting is done in secret, and the Hall of Fame does not disclose how anyone voted

Basically, there’s no accountability or transparency in the process. CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones has called for the entire system to be blown up.

The Hall of Fame has a full list of the 50-person selection committee on its website, and although ballots are supposed to remain secret, several committee members have come out and revealed whether they voted for Belichick.

The committee includes one media member from each city that has an NFL team (32 total). There’s also one member representing the PFWA, along with 17 at-large voters.

Let’s take a look at the full list, including members who have publicly said they voted for Belichick, and those who have not revealed their ballots.

Committee members who have publicly said they voted for Belichick:

1. Arizona: Kent Somers, retired Arizona Republic
2. Buffalo: Vic Carucci, WGRZ-TV
3. Chicago: Dan Pompei, The Athletic
4. Cleveland: Tony Grossi, ESPNCleveland.com/WKNR Radio
5. Detroit: Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press
6. Green Bay: Pete Dougherty, Green Bay Press-Gazette
7. Houston: John McClain, SportsRadio610
8. Los Angeles (Chargers): Eric Williams, Sports Illustrated
9. Miami: Armando Salguero, Outkick.com
10. New York (Giants): Gary Myers, Author
11. New York (Jets): Rich Cimini, ESPN.com
12. Philadelphia: Paul Domowitch, The33rdTeam.com/PhillyMag.com
13. Pittsburgh: Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
14. Seattle: Mike Sando, The Athletic
15. Tennessee: Paul Kuharsky, PaulKuharsky.com
16. Washington: Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
17. At-Large: Mary Kay-Cabot, Cleveland Plain Dealer
18. At-Large: Jason Cole, FanSided.com
19. At-Large: Lindsay Jones, The Ringer
20. At-Large: Sal Paolantonio, ESPN
21. At-Large: Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk

Committee members whose votes are unknown:

1. Atlanta: Darryl Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2. Baltimore: Scott Garceau, 105.7 The Fan/WMAR-TV
3. Carolina: Darin Gantt, Carolina Panthers
4. Cincinnati, Geoff Hobson, Bengals.com 
5. Dallas: Rick Gosselin, Talk of Fame Network
6. Denver: Jeff Legwold, ESPN/ESPN.com
7. Indianapolis: Mike Chappell, Fox 59/CBS 4
8. Jacksonville: Sam Kouvaris, SamSportsLine.com
9. Kansas City: Vahe Gregorian, Kansas City Star
10. Las Vegas: Paul Gutierrez, Raiders.com 
11. Los Angeles (Rams): Howard Balzer, SiriusXM NFL Radio
12. Minnesota: Mark Craig, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
13. New England: Ron Borges, Talk of Fame Network
14. New Orleans: Jeff Duncan, Times-Picayune
15. San Francisco: Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area
16. Tampa Bay: Ira Kaufman, JoeBucsFan.com
17. PFWA: Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
18. At-Large: Joe Bussert, retired, NFL Office
19. At-Large: Frank Cooney, The Sports Xchange
20. At-Large: Tony Dungy, NBC Sports “Football Night in America” (Hall of Famer)
21. At-Large: Dan Fouts, Broadcaster (Hall of Famer)
22. At-Large: Clark Judge, Talk of Fame Network
23. At-Large: Ross Ketover, NFL Films
24. At-Large: James Lofton, CBS Sports (Hall of Famer)
25. At-Large: Alex Marvez, SiriusXM NFL Radio
26. At-Large: Bill Polian, SiriusXM NFL Radio (Hall of Famer)
27. At-Large: Lisa Salters, ESPN 
28. At-Large: Jim Trotter, retired, The Athletic
29. At-Large: Barry Wilner, retired, Associated Press

Out of this group, more than 20 members have already come out and said they voted for Belichick. Again, we know that at least 11 voters did NOT vote for him.

Mike Sando of The Athletic outlined how that might have happened: Some voters could have been turned off by the Spygate allegations, while others might have prioritized the senior candidates, who may not make the final ballot next year. It’s also possible some voters weren’t thrilled with the recent rule change that made former coaches eligible after just one year out of the league.

CBS Sports NFL researcher Doug Clawson also came up with some theories about why certain voters might have left Belichick off their ballots. It’s not just Spygate — there was also Deflategate. And let’s not forget, the Patriots were fined $1.1 million for filming the Bengals sideline in 2019.

Then there’s the Bill Polian factor. In a story Tuesday, ESPN reported that Polian tried to convince a few other voters that Belichick deserved to wait at least one year as a punishment for Spygate. The former Colts general manager told Sports Illustrated on Tuesday that he definitely voted for Belichick, but then backtracked later in the night, telling ESPN that he was 95% sure he voted for him.

The Hall of Fame vote took place Jan. 13, and if Polian can’t remember after just two weeks, that opens up another set of issues.