The Pro Football Hall of Fame recently made a significant announcement regarding its potential 2026 class, following the conclusion of this NFL season. They named nine semifinalists for head coaches who could be enshrined this year.
Among the most notable names are Bill Belichick and Mike Shanahan, who are both legends with multiple Super Bowl rings. They are joined by an elite class of candidates representing some of the best to ever in the league’s history.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Semifinalist HCs for 2026 Class
The Pro Football Hall of Fame honors the best players, coaches, executives, and more for their outstanding career accomplishments. Each year, a new class of inductees is voted into Canton to be forever enshrined.
The 2026 class will include some of the most notable head coaches in the game’s history. Belichick and Shanahan are two of the headliners who have an excellent chance of being selected, but the complete list of nine semifinalists is impressive.
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“Six head coaches in the National Football League whose teams won at least one Super Bowl or NFL title game are among the nine individuals named as semifinalists in the Coach category for possible election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026,” they announced.
Six head coaches in the National Football League whose teams won at least one Super Bowl or NFL title game are among the nine individuals named as semifinalists in the Coach category for possible election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 presented by Visual Edge IT.… pic.twitter.com/WlgBaxOMtk
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) November 5, 2025
Here are the nine semifinalists:
1) Bill Belichick
2) Mike Shanahan
3) Marty Schottenheimer
4) Tom Coughlin
5) Dan Reeves
6) Mike Holmgren
7) George Seifert
8) Buddy Parker
9) Chuck Knox
Belichick holds NFL records among head coaches with six Super Bowl rings and nine Conference Championships. He is also one of only three head coaches in history to have totaled more than 300 career wins, joining George Halas and Don Shula. Many consider the New England Patriots legend to be the greatest coach in NFL history, so he has a strong chance of officially being a part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class.
He is not guaranteed to get in, as he will first have to clear several hurdles, including an extensive voting process. Shanahan, Coughlin, and Seifert have all won multiple rings as well, so they are likely to be his biggest competition. Both of Coughlin’s came with the New York Giants in head-to-head matchups against Belichick in two of the biggest Super Bowl upsets of all time.
