2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

Hall announces there will be one coaching finalist on its own each of the next four years.

Coaches to have own Hall of Fame category for next 4 years
Coaches will have their own category for being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — at least for the next four years.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Trustees on Friday approved a change in the selection process. Effective with the class of 2021, there will be 15 modern-era players as finalists (with a maximum of five ultimately elected). There also will be one coach finalist, one senior finalist and one contributor finalist through the selection of the class of 2024.

Previously, coaches were considered along with players, lessening their chances of being elected to the Canton, Ohio, shrine. There also were one or two senior and one or two contributor finalists, with those numbers alternating each year, with three candidates combined annually.

“This important change came from information we learned during the blue-ribbon panel’s selection of the Centennial Class of 2020,” said Saleem Choudhry, the hall's vice president of museum/exhibit services. “It became widely recognized that coaches deserved their own path, like seniors and contributors, to be considered by the full selection committee.”

 

This would have been HOF weekend - imagine next year when they will be inducting 40 or so people. Really curious about the "information they learned"

 

I think it had to do with the people on those committees saying how unfair it was that coaches were put in the same pool as modern players and being forced to choose between them, when it's hard to compare. They were also the only of the Big 4 Halls to not separate coaches/managers from the player pool. It's obvious enough big names raised a stink to alter it for now.

 

Senior nominee is Drew Pearson

Coach nominee is Tom Flores

Contributor nominee announced next week.

I'm kinda stunned they gave the nod to Pearson after his tantrum.

I don't think Flores belongs but whatever. Coryell is never getting in at this point.

 

I don’t think Flores belongs either, but Pearson does.

 

I'm not saying Pearson doesn't, just that his reaction to not being a part of the Centennial Class was going to hurt him to the point of making him wait a year or two as a "punishment"

 

Shoot - there was so much vote trading on that 2020 committee - I am curious to know how much the regular committee is aware of what all went on with that thing and how it may impact things going forward.

 

Just having the centennial committee changed things going forward. They told the regular committees -- here are the next six coaches, seven contributors and 10 players that need to be inducted.

It should be no surprise that one of the coaches who didn't make it and one of the players who didn't make it were the choices for the 2021 class. It's a lock that the contributor announced next week will be one of these:
Bud Adams
Ralph Hay
Frank "Bucko" Kilroy
Art McNally
Art Modell
Clint Murchison
Seymour Siwoff

and all of them are dead except for McNally and I don't think it will be him. It also makes sense that they would go with a living coach and player to balance out picking a deceased contributor.

And if any of the senior nominees don't come from the centennial list, people are going to be super pissed, because hypothetically they were supposed to be the best available in that category

 

I'm fine with Flores. Jimmy Johnson got in. His resume and Flores' are fairly comparable since this is the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

And the Contributor selectors go off the board, which is interesting.

Bill Nunn Selected as Finalist for HOF Class of 2021 | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site

 

Not one scout, certainly not Nunn, was even mentioned by name in Roy Blount Jr.'s excellent "Three Bricks Shy of a Load" about the emergent 70s Steelers.

 

Well if there's one group that needs more representation in the Hall of Fame its the 70s Steelers