The NFL world is still reeling from the news that former New England Patriots head coach and six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick will not be a first-ballot entrant into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Among those the most surprised is Belichick’s former quarterback that led all six of his Super Bowl champion Patriots teams: Tom Brady.
‘I don’t understand it. I mean, I was with him every day. If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a Hall of Famer,’ said Brady, the five-time Super Bowl MVP and current Fox Sports broadcaster, in an interview with Seattle Sports.
‘There’s no coach I’d rather play for,’ Brady continued. ‘If I’m picking one coach, to go out there and win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I’m taking Bill Belichick.’
Brady, whose entire tenure with the Patriots was with Belichick as head coach, went on to say that moments like his former coach’s snub are just things that happen in ‘the world of voting,’ which he believes takes in factors like popularity.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback said he knows Belichick will ultimately get into the Hall of Fame, even if it’s not as a first-ballot inductee as many expected.
‘We’ll all be there to celebrate him when it does happen,’ Brady said. ‘He’s going to have a huge turnout from so many players, coaches that appreciated everything that he did and the commitment that he made to winning, and the impact he had on all our lives. And that’ll be a great celebration when it happens.’
Brady has long been a supporter of Belichick. In a note shared with Hall of Fame voters, Brady laid out why his former head coach deserved to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
‘I don’t believe that any coach in the history of the game has done more to earn his place in the Hall of Fame than Bill Belichick. To say that he was my greatest coaching influence would be an understatement,’ Brady wrote in his note, via Armando Salguero.
‘His mindset, his consistency, his ability to adapt and evolve — was unmatched. He expected a championship level standard from everyone in the building, and he got it. That’s why we won! And that’s why he belongs in Canton.’
Belichick won six Super Bowls as head coach of the Patriots during his 24-year tenure in New England. He also won Super Bowls 21 and 25 as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator under head coach Bill Parcells prior to taking over as the Patriots’ head coach in 2000.
The record-holder for Super Bowl wins as a head coach is currently the head football coach for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, where he went 4-8 in his first season last year.