President Donald Trump has expressed admiration for the New England Patriots dynasty in the past, so it was little surprise what he thought about Bill Belichick’s Pro Football Hall of Fame snub.
Speaking with NBC News in an interview conducted Wednesday and aired on Super Bowl Sunday, the president complained about the longtime Patriots coach failing to reach Canton in his first year of eligibility:
“I thought it was terrible. I mean, he’s— won so much, won so many Super Bowls. Great coach. Became a little bit controversial, I guess, after that, this little period after that. During it he was just a great coach. I thought it was very inappropriate.
“Oh yeah. It’s like what have you done for me lately? Well, you know, you have a great career and he has a little bit of a controversial year and a half, two years maybe. But— what difference does that make? No, he should’ve— he should be in there right at the top.”
Trump is hardly the first person to rail against the snub. He refers twice to “controversial” actions on Belichick’s part, which could be a reference to the Spygate and Deflategate cheating scandals that occurred under the coach’s watch. However, he alludes to those controversial years being after Belichick’s NFL career so he might simply be referring to the 73-year-old’s post-Patriots UNC-Jordon Hudson era.
Donald Trump and Bill Belichick have some history together. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Regardless, Belichick’s snubs came down to more than controversies. As one of the few Belichick “no” voters laid out, the matter of voting Belichick was more than “yes” or “no.” To some, it was “Belichick” or “a group of senior players who might not get another Hall of Fame shot for years.”
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The Hall of Fame’s voting process created conditions in which the NFL’s all-time leader in playoff wins among head coaches was put in competition for a limited number of votes with three senior players and a contributor, in this case Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
This year, the only one of that quintet to emerge was former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig, who was recognized on the field at Super Bowl LX alongside modern-era inductees Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri.
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