Schefter Rips Media Voters, Bill Polian for Belichick Snub Because HC Wasn't 'Warm and Fuzzy'

ESPN's Adam Schefter has joined the chorus of people railing against the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee members who did not vote for Bill Belichick.

Appearing on Thursday's episode of Get Up, Schefter ripped the voters for letting their personal feelings toward Belichick impact their choice because he wasn't "warm and fuzzy" in his dealings with the media during his time as head coach of the New England Patriots:

"It's more about what went on in that room, allegedly, that people said that there were voters who felt like this was penance for Bill Belichick for spygate and deflategate. And maybe that was or maybe that wasn't true but the fact that of the matter is, to me from the surface, and I'm open to having any voter tell me anything otherwise, I believe this was as much about personal feelings as it  was spygate and deflategate. Bill Belichick was not always warm and fuzzy with the media, so here's a time that each media person on that panel gets to wield some power for, so some people felt like, 'You know what? He was not really nice to us, we're not going to be nice to him.' And so they rejected, I believe that played a big part of it as much as spygate or deflategate in a league where coaches and executives are always pushing rules and boundaries, including Bill Polian himself, okay? So, let's not say it's about that that the greatest coach of all time is denied entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And the part that I also really don't like about it is that now Bill Belichick gets backed up another year. So, when he comes up next year and everybody knows that Bill Belichick is going to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he will and he should, the problem is now that means that somebody else that's been waiting like Tom Coughlin or Mike Holmgren or Mike Shanahan as they've been waiting, they have to wait another year. One coach per year."

On Tuesday, ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported Belichick fell short of the necessary 40 votes needed for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot.

Per Van Natta and Wickersham, legendary executive Bill Polian, who worked for the Indianapolis Colts during many of the peak years of their rivalry with the Patriots, told some voters that Belichick should have to "wait a year" to get in as penance for the Spygate cheating scandal from 2007.

Polian has denied that he influenced anyone with the Hall of Fame, adding that he voted for Belichick. The Pro Football Hall of Fame also confirmed Polian voted in favor of Belichick, per Matt Moret of The Athletic.

Per NFL insider Ollie Connolly, there are at least 22 other members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee who have confirmed they voted for Belichick.

One of the hallmarks of Belichick's 24-year stint with the Patriots was his unwillingness to say anything to the media. He famously spent an entire postgame press conference after a 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in September 2014 simply repeating the phrase "we're on to Cincinnati" rather than engage with any of the questions being asked.

No one is arguing that Belichick has a perfect resume—in addition to Spygate in 2007, there was also the Deflategate situation from the 2014 AFC Championship Game—but the overall body of work is as accomplished as any coach in NFL history.

Belichick won six Super Bowls with the Patriots as their head coach, plus two more as an assistant with the New York Giants. His 333 career wins between the regular season and playoffs are the second-most all-time. He is one of only three coaches with at least 300 regular-season victories. The other two are Don Shula and George Halas.

Halas was part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 1963. Shula was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 1997.