Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick among candidates for Hall of Fame's 2027 class

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Nov 5, 2026

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick are squaring off again, this time as two of the final coaching candidates being considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2027 class.

Dan Reeves, Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan make up the rest of the field, which the Hall announced Thursday.

The Hall’s coaching subcommittee narrowed an original pool of 14 candidates down to the remaining five.

On Nov. 17, the subcommittee will select one coach from that group to present to the Hall’s main Selection Committee, which will then consider whether to enshrine that candidate in its overall Class of 2027.

The same five coaches advanced to this stage last year, with the subcommittee ultimately selecting Belichick.

However, in a snub that generated widespread outrage, the Selection Committee did not induct Belichick in its Class of 2026 in what was his first year of eligibility.

Coughlin, 80, won Super Bowls XLII and XLVI as the head coach of the Giants, upsetting the Belichick-led New England Patriots both times.

In 20 seasons as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-2002) and Giants (2004-15), Coughlin went 182-157, including the playoffs.

“You want to be the very, very best you can be,” Coughlin said in 2014, toward the end of his Giants tenure. “If the highest point in recognition in our game is the Hall of Fame, then why not think about that? Do I think about it every day? No.”

Belichick, 74, won six Super Bowls as the head coach of the Patriots. Before that, Belichick won Super Bowls XXI and XXV as the Giants defensive coordinator on Bill Parcells’ staff.

In 29 seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Patriots, Belichick went 333-178 (.647). His 333 wins in the regular season and playoffs are the second most in NFL history, trailing only Don Shula’s 347.

“If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Tom Brady, who was Belichick’s quarterback for all six Patriots championships, told Seattle Sports 710-AM after last year’s stunning omission.

“Which is completely ridiculous, because people deserve it.”

Reeves was also the head coach of the Giants from 1993-96 — between longer stints with the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons — and compiled a career record of 201-174-2 over 23 seasons.

While Reeves went 0-4 as a head coach in the Super Bowl — he went three times with the Broncos and once with the Falcons — he did win a championship as an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys.

Shanahan led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships after the 1997 and 1998 seasons, while Mike Holmgren’s Green Bay Packers won the title for the 1996 season.