Bill Belichick snub, Broncos’ Mike Shanahan kept waiting among reasons Dick Vermeil to boycott HOF ceremonies 40%
By Chris Tomasson27%
8/4/2026, 4:48:35 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including False Dilemma, Negativity Bias, and Pessimism Bias, with Sunk Cost Effect as the most egregious example at 10.5% saturation with 65 hits. Analysis detected 454 faulty-reasoning hits from 619 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 38.2% and a BS Rank of 40% (17,300 of 28,475 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 60.80% of the article peer group.
Jimmy Johnson won’t be the only Hall of Fame coach staying away from Canton, Ohio, this week in protest.
Johnson, named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, said earlier this year he will boycott this year’s ceremonies to protest Bill Belichick not being inducted.
On Tuesday, Dick Vermeil told The Denver Gazette he also will boycott the ceremonies Saturday.
Vermeil, who was inducted into the shrine in 2022, returned to Canton each of the past three years.
However, he said he is disappointed not only by Belichick being snubbed this year, but by Mike Holmgren being passed over in 2025 and by former Broncos boss Mike Shanahan and Tom Coughlin having to still wait due to there being a backlog of coaches.
“I’m not going back (to Canton) until they start putting coaches in,” said Vermeil, 89, who led the St.
Louis Rams to a Super Bowl win in the 1999 season.
“I just think the system now is disrespectful of the NFL head coach’s position in regards to the Hall of Fame.”
When Vermeil was selected, he was a finalist in the coach category and the 50 members of the Hall of Fame selection committee voted only on him.
Needing to get 80% of the vote, he reached that threshold.
For the 2025 class, the voting process was changed.
For each of the past two years, there has been one coach finalist, one contributor finalist and three senior player finalists.
But they have been on the ballot together, with the minimum number getting in being one and maximum number three.
Anyone enshrined still must get 80% of the vote.
With that system, Mike Holmgren was not selected in 2025 and Belichick was snubbed this year.
“I said to myself when I was selected that I would go back every year, but what’s happened to the coaches now, it makes me feel guilty that I’m in (the Hall of Fame) and those guys are not,’’ said Vermeil, who also led Philadelphia to the Super Bowl in the 1980 season and had success coaching Kansas City before retiring after the 2005 season.
Vermeil said he feels “guilty” Belichick and Holmgren have not gotten in and that Shanahan and Coughlin have been forced to keep waiting for enshrinement due to no coaches having been inducted the past two years.
Belichick won six Super Bowls with New England.
Holmgren won a Super Bowl with Green Bay and led the Packers to another Super Bowl and Seattle to one.
Shanahan won two Super Bowls with Denver and Coughlin two with the New York Giants.
“He certainly should be in the Hall of Fame,” Vermeil said about Shanahan, who coached the Broncos from 1995-2008 and won Super Bowls in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
“When Holmgren and then Belichick don’t get in, all that does is delay the Mike Shanahans and the Tom Coughlins and those type of people from getting in.
We’ll be putting in more coaches who are deceased.
There’s no question Mike Shanahan is a Hall of Fame coach.
He’s one of the most influential head coaches.”
After there being much criticism, the Hall of Fame voting process involving coaches is expected to be changed, but it’s uncertain what might be done.
In the meantime, Vermeil has informed Hall officials he won’t be coming to Canton
“I’m not going back until they get it straightened out,” Vermeil said.
“They know how I feel about it.
… I am confident they will get it right, but just out of respect for guys that are not in that should be in, I’m staying home.”
Speakers
2speakers58%attributed speech259writer words
Selected voice
85%flagged-word coverageDick Vermeil
332 attributed words92% of attributed speech6.2% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.