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One of the first known voters who didn’t choose Bill Belichick as a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer has explained his choice.
Kansas City Star’s Vahe Gregorian wrote a Wednesday column revealing that he was one of at least 11 Hall of Fame voters who didn’t check off Belichick, which shocked the football world when the news surfaced on Tuesday.
While that report stated Belichick’s involvement in scandals with the New England Patriots like Spygate and Deflategate, Gregorian, who has been covering the league for nearly 40 years, said that wasn’t his reasoning behind leaving the coach off his ballot.
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Then-New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was denied entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first time on the ballot. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
Gregorian said the “curious selection dynamics” from the Hall led to him to cast his votes elsewhere.
To further explain, Belichick was a part of a five-person pool separate from the 15-man modern-era ballot, where each voter is tasked with selecting just three members to enter the Hall. Among those are three senior candidates, a contributor and a coach.
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Belichick was the coach on this year’s ballot, while coincidentally, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was the contributor nominee.
But Gregorian explained why he chose to cast his three votes for the three senior members – Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood – all of whom he believed deserved a spot in Canton.
Gregorian said he felt “duty-bound” to cast his votes for the senior candidates, believing they were looking at possibly their last chances to get into the Hall.
“All three have been long deserving of induction in the Hall,” he wrote in his column. “All three have been, well, snubbed for decades.”
A longtime NFL reporter revealed why he didn’t check off Belichick’s name on his ballot for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Gregorian’s thought process was Belichick would inevitably get in, but once he saw that he didn’t procure the necessary 80% of votes on his first ballot, the veteran writer understood the vitriol and backlash that was received once news broke.
“At the risk of contradicting my own vote, really, [Belichick] shouldn’t even have to wait,” Gregorian’s column read. “I understand why people are offended that he isn’t going in the first moment he can.
“I felt more compelled by what I perceive to be last chances and looming lost causes within the system as we have it — a system I hope the Hall will see fit to change now.”
Kraft called Belichick the “greatest coach of all time,” while Tom Brady said he couldn’t fathom why his old mentor in Foxborough, Massachusetts, isn’t heading to Canton, Ohio, this summer.
Many others, including Patrick Mahomes, J.J. Watt, Ryan Clark and Pat McAfee, all shared their disbelief after reading the news.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft and others have called Belichick the “greatest coach of all time.” (Steven Senne, File/AP Photo)
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Belichick has the second-most wins by a head coach of all time, only behind the great Don Shula. He won six Super Bowls in New England and two while a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants.
While Gregorian was brave enough to face the backlash, it’s unknown whether the other writers who didn’t vote for Belichick will let themselves be known.
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