The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s nine-member coach blue-ribbon committee has narrowed the candidates for the coaching category to 12.
The original list was 14.
Bill Arnsparger, Tom Coughlin, Jeff Fisher, Alex Gibbs, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Richie Petitbon, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert, Mike Shanahan and Clark Shaughnessy advance in the process for the Class of 2025.
Hall of Fame bylaws stipulate that coach blue-ribbon committee members vote for 12 coaches at this stage of the selection process. Each committee member will cast an additional ballot later this month to reduce the list to nine semifinalists, with those results announced in about two weeks.
Through a sequence of reduction votes over several weeks, the blue-ribbon committee will select one coach finalist for the Class of 2025.
The Hall of Fame revised its bylaws beginning with the Class of 2025, and among the changes was a split of the coach/contributor category, which had been combined the past few election cycles. Both categories now will send nominees through respective blue-ribbon committees before candidates are considered by the full selection committee. The blue-ribbon committees are comprised of seven members of the full selection committee and two others who hold full voting rights for this subcommittee only.
The new bylaws also reduced the waiting period for coach candidates from five seasons out of the game to one season out of the game. Bill Belichick will become eligible for the Class of 2026 if he doesn’t take a head coaching job for 2025.
