Tony Dungy refuses to disclose Hall of Fame voting in heated on-air row over Bill Belichick snub

The fallout from Bill Belichick’s surprise omission from the Pro Football Hall of Fame continued into NBC’s Super Bowl coverage.

On the pregame show, host Jac Collinsworth asked Tony Dungy if he voted for Belichick.

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“I’m not going to disclose that,” replied the two-time Super Bowl champion, who added that members took an “oath” not to discuss the talks.

Dungy blamed the change in rules last year that meant of five finalists in the category of coaches, owners, and senior players, only one gets in — San Francisco 49ers legend running back Roger Craig got the nod in 2026.

“Any list that doesn’t include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong,” colleague Rodney Harrison responded.

The safety, who won the Vince Lombardi Trophy twice with Belichick’s Patriots, later added: “There’s nobody more deserving of being in that Hall of Fame than coach Belichick.

“I’ve seen his greatness. I’ve seen him design defenses to stop your offense.

“When I look throughout the Hall of Fame and even Tom Brady—Tom Brady wouldn’t be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. That’s the disappointing part of it, coach, and you guys got it wrong.”

Front Office Sports spoke to Dungy during NBC’s media event and he again refused to say if he voted for Belichick or Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

“The system is stupid,” Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo—a Radio Hall of Famer—told the outlet. “You can’t have three ex-players’ last year on the ballot be up against two guys who are contributors, and you only can vote for three of them.

“And a lot of the guys are gonna vote for the players because it’s their last crack at it, and they’re gonna go push the Belichicks and the Krafts down a year or two, which isn’t fair, but that’s what they’re gonna do…

“And let’s be honest, Belichick and Kraft are Hall of Famers, we all know this. Put him in the freakin’ Hall of Fame and don’t delay it.”

First ballot Hall of Famer Champ Bailey told talkSPORT that he was shocked, but pointed at potential reasons that could have cost Belichick.

“You know, honestly, I was shocked by, you know, Belichick, especially that getting in on the first try,” he said on behalf of Sports Brief AI. “But, you know, I’m often the one to reserve my opinions until I know all the facts.

“Well, I don’t think we’re gonna get any facts around this and why the decision was made to vote no on one of the most accomplished head coaches that sport has ever seen at any level.

“So, I always go back to the couple of things that I know. Your success is gonna be largely based off relationships you have, how you make people feel, how you played and coached and treated the game. And I feel like a lot of those things, not understanding the depth of it, we need to consider those to play a factor. And we all know about Deflategate, Spygate, all these things that transpired throughout his career in New England.

“Then, you know, the smugness to the media. So those all things can play a role in the media potentially voting you into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Now, again, I’ll say I was shocked, but you have to consider those things. I would have voted for him based off what I know, but I don’t know what the media personnel dealt with while being around him in New England and beyond.

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“One thing though, they’ll never always get it right, especially with the Hall of Fame. I do look at this class they got in and all those guys are deserving. So as long as the people that go in are deserving, we can have our debates about the ones that didn’t, but everybody knows that he’s a Hall of Famer.”

Asked if Brady was a lock when his name becomes eligible, Bailey grinned and added: “Yeah, but you probably said that about Belichick too, right?”

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