Who Are We Without Respect?
My Thoughts on Bill Belichick and the Hall of Fame
Bill Belichick not being voted in as a first-ballot Hall of Famer is one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen in the NFL.
I played for Coach Belichick two separate times. Won two Super Bowl rings under him. He doesn’t need my help in touting his resume, but I want to tell you who he is to me and what I think the voters chose to discount.
I didn’t actually meet Coach Belichick for the first time until the middle of a practice. He was twirling his whistle like he always does, and he waved me over.
“Yo, Van Noy.”
I walk up, and he looks at me and says, “Let me tell you something.”
Still twirling that whistle.
“I always get my guys. You’ve been one of my guys since you came out of college. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you in the draft, but I gotcha. I want you to be successful.”
That was the whole conversation.
You need to understand where I was at the time. Deemed not a fit (bust) and traded away from the team that drafted me (for a 6th round pick that didn’t amount to nothing! ha). The same theme in my life about craving a sense of belonging and feeling seen. And here’s the greatest coach, one of the greatest defensive minds to ever coach in football, giving me that confidence and belief right away. I felt like I could do anything.
It was a clean slate. Everything that happened before didn’t matter. I took off from there.
That’s who Bill Belichick is.
What Puts Him in a League of His Own
Bill Belichick loves the history of football more than anyone I’ve ever met. He is the ultimate student of the game. He makes his players understand who came before us. The players and coaches who paved the way for us, for the contracts we sign, for the opportunities we have today. His appreciation for the game made all of us appreciate it more.
Football doesn’t just exist in this moment in time. It’s built on the shoulders of every coach, every player, every person who came before us. When someone like Belichick, who lives, breathes, and embodies this game, doesn’t get first-ballot recognition…we’re sending a message.
We’re saying that these traits don’t matter. That being the keeper of football history isn’t worth honoring. If that’s not worth honor and respect, who are we?
What First Ballot Should Mean
A Hall of Fame selection should be about accomplishments, and also what someone has done for the game. What they’ve contributed. What they’ve built. What they represent. Not a popularity contest. Not punishment for consequences already served.
To me, Bill Belichick is football. Beyond the stats, he kept the stories alive. He made sure players knew the names of the legends before them. He taught us that the game is bigger than any one season, any one team, any one era.
When we don’t honor that, when voters don’t honor that, we all lose. The game loses its connection to its past. The history loses its voice. The next generation of players loses the understanding that they’re part of something bigger than themselves.
I carry what Coach Belichick taught me every single day. About preparation. About respecting the game. About seeing people’s potential and building them up. Whenever I see him on tv twirling a whistle, I think about our first interaction.
First ballot or not, history will remember what he built. I just wish the voters had too.
Honest take. There is no debate whether Belichick is first ballot HoF.
The big question this has raised is about the integrity of the process and more importantly people voting.
Do you think there will be repercussions, with some of these people being removed, as they clearly are not fit for the role?
The Pro football hall of fame is a clown organization. If the Nobel committee had denied it's prize to Einstein, that would have said more about the committee than about Einstein's shortcomings