President Trump went off on Pro Football Hall of Fame voters Wednesday morning after six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick fell short of enshrinement on the first ballot.
“It is the same mindset that gave pro football the new and unwatchable ‘Sissy’ Kickoff Rule, that made it possible for Bill Belichick to not be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Trump raged on Truth Social. “Both are ridiculous and should be overturned!”
ESPN reported Tuesday that Belichick, now the head football coach at the University of North Carolina, fell short of the required 80% threshold for induction during the Jan. 13 selection meeting — in part due to lingering bitterness over the 2007 “Spygate” scandal, in which he was personally fined $500,000 and his New England Patriots were docked $250,000 and a first-round draft pick for improperly recording opposing team signals.
Belichick, who reportedly was “puzzled” and “disappointed” by the result, went on to win three more Super Bowls with the help of star quarterback Tom Brady and finished his pro career with the most Lombardi Trophies by a single bench boss (6), as well as the most appearances in the big game (9), the most playoff wins (31) and second-most total victories (333, behind only Don Shula’s 347).
Trump, 79, is a longtime friend of Belichick, 73, with the coach famously penning the then-GOP nominee a gushing letter in the closing stages of the 2016 presidential campaign — which Trump read out loud during a rally in the swing state of New Hampshire.
The president is also close with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, 84, who is himself under consideration for the Hall of Fame after New England made their 11th Super Bowl during his time in charge — and first since Kraft fired Belichick after the Patriots’ disastrous 4-13 2023 season.
The 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees will be announced next week, with the formal ceremony to take place in Canton, Ohio in early August.
