Two-time Super Bowl-winning coaches Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan and George Seifert are among the coaching candidates being considered for 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame glory.
Another Super Bowl winner, Mike Holmgren, also made the cut Thursday when the Hall’s nine-member special coaching committee narrowed the list of applicants to twelve.
The committee will narrow the list to nine semifinalists in the coming weeks before choosing one finalist to parade before the entire Hall selection committee for attention early in the class.
The single training candidate will likely be grouped with one associate and three senior applicants. Between one and three of the five finalists will be added to the Corridor after obtaining at least 80% of the votes of the entire committee.
Coughlin, Shanahan and Seifert are among 14 coaches who have received more than one Tremendous Bowls. Nine of those coaches are already in the Hall and Bill Belichick and Andy Reid are not yet eligible.
Coughlin coached for two decades for the Jaguars and Giants. He led the Jaguars to the AFC’s big name in their second season as a franchise and again in the 1999 season. But his greatest fortune came when he joined the Giants in 2004.
He led the franchise to a Super Bowl title in the 2007 season, when Untouched York upset the undefeated Patriots and then defeated Belichick, Tom Brady and Untouched England again four years later. Coughlin rounded out with a 170-150 regular season report.
Seifert helped the 49ers win two titles as defensive coordinator under Invoice Walsh and two more as head coach and then replaced Walsh in 1989.
He won at least 10 games in his eight seasons at the helm of the 49ers and his 98-30 (.766) record was the best for any coach on a single team with at least 100 games. But he couldn’t copy that good fortune in three seasons with the Panthers, going 16-32.
Shanahan was the offensive coordinator under Seifert on San Francisco’s 1994 championship team and then won back-to-back titles as head coach with the Broncos in 1997-98. Shanahan finished with a 170-138 record for the Raiders, Broncos and Washington and his influence on the game remains strong today through his disciples, including his son, Kyle, who coaches San Francisco.
Four NFL alternative flow head coaches worked under Shanahan in Washington (Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur and Raheem Morris) and the offensive system he introduced to the league that combines the outside zone run with the passing game. remains essentially the most common within the league today.
Holmgren preceded Shanahan as offensive coordinator in San Francisco and also had a major influence on coaching appointments with Reid and Jon Gruden winning Super Bowls and then running under Holmgren with the Packers. Holmgren had a 161-111 record for the Packers and Seahawks, winning the title in 1996. He was also named to the Super Bowl season in Green Bay and will appear again in the 2005 season in Seattle.
Some of the alternate applicants are former Oilers, Titans and Rams educator Jeff Fisher; Chuck Knox, who received Tutor of the Presen awards with the Rams, Expenses and Seahawks; Dan Reeves, who was in four Super Bowls with Denver and the Falcons; and Marty Schottenheimer, who won 200 regular-season games and made the playoffs 13 times in 20 full seasons as head coach of the Browns, Chiefs, Washington and Chargers.
The list of applicants also includes several coaches best known for their work as assistants: Bill Arnsparger, the defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins’ simplest team in 1972 and Super Bowl winner that season; Richie Petitbon, who called the defenses of three Super Bowl champions in Washington; and veteran offensive series educator Alex Gibbs, who helped Denver win two titles in the 1990s and popularized the zone blocking scheme.
The at-large candidate is innovative Clark Shaughnessy, considered the “father of the T formation” and three receivers built over his long career that included a stint as an assistant to Bears coach George Halas for a 73- 0. sporting victory over Washington in 1940, two years as head coach of the Rams and a stint as Halas’ defensive coordinator in Chicago.
