Bill Belichick named among 12 coaching nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The final 12 coaching nominees for the 2026 class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame have been announced.

The list is headlined by six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick, who is in his first year of eligibility. A rule change last year made coaches eligible provided that they had been out of the NFL for at least one full season.

Alongside Belichick in the running are Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan and George Seifert, all of whom have won two Super Bowls. With one championship to his name, Mike Holmgren is also in contention. The list is rounded out by Bill Arnsparger, Alex Gibbs, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer and Clark Shaughnessy.

From this point on, the process to make it into the Hall of Fame is not straight-forward. Of those 12 coaches, a committee will cut that down to nine semifinalists next month, before then being reduced down to one single finalist.

But that’s not the end - the coaching finalist will then be placed in a group with one contributor and three senior candidates. Those five names are then put to the committee, with between one and three of those finalists getting into the HoF, depending on their vote share.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio and now contains 382 individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the game. Typically between four and nine new inductees are added every year, although the 2020 class featured 20 new members to celebrate the 100th anniversary of professional football.

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