HOFame’s Great Gazinta Challenge

Editor’s Note: This is an d update on part of a series on the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s journey to select the Class of 2026. It is written by Frank Cooney, long-time Seniors Blue-Ribbon Selection Committee member in his 33rd year as a selector. The Hall of Football is not affiliated with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Opinions expressed are those of the Hall of Football (HallofFootball.substack.com). See note at bottom regarding next story in this series

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When the full 50-person Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee meets this month to determine the Class of 2026, the first task will be to wrestle with the Great Gazinta Challenge.

As mentioned here before, that isn’t some new football terminology. “Gazinta” is a quasi-onomatopoeiac term popularized by the character Jethro Bodine of the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971). Jethro used the word to show off his math prowess: “two gazinta four twice; three gazinta nine three times”, and so on.

Not to be confused with Bazinga, a term for “gotchya,” introduced by the character Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019), gazinta is merely a sound-alike colloquial term for “goes into.”

Most selectors I talked with aren’t amused by any comedic intent of this situation. These are serious-minded selectors trying to get deserving players into the Hall of Fame. And although we are repeatedly reassured by executives from the Hall, many selectors find the math, the gazinta, daunting.

The Group of Five electors are targeting includes five finalists — a coach, a contributor and three senior players. This year’s finalists in the Group of Five include coach Bill Belichick, owner Robert Kraft and the three senior players — quarterback Ken Anderson, fullback Roger Craig and defensive end L.C. Greenwood.

The rules

Here are the mechanics for selecting the finalists:

• Each selector must vote for three of the five finalists (updated from saying “may vote for up to three. . . )
• Votes remain individual — no pairing or package structures.
• A finalist enters the Class of 2026 only by clearing 80 percent of the full committee.
• That threshold stays fixed at 40 votes.

The math

• Fifty selectors, each with three votes create a pool of 150 total ballots. A finalist gains induction only by drawing a minimum of 40 votes (80 percent).
• Landing three inductees requires 120 of 150 ballots — no fewer than 40 each — which is a level of selector alignment that demands almost no divergence and virtually no scattered support.
• Two inductees remain possible but demand unified assessments that we just may see this year.

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The reality

Before 2024 the final three senior players, one contributor and one coach were decided by their respective subcommittees.

Those five finalists were presented to begin the full selection meeting and were considered separately — yes or no — with a minimum of 80 percent yes required to be inducted. All five could be inducted. Or none. The last time we used that process, two finalists, a player and a coach, failed to get 80 percent “yes” votes, which seemed more equitable than the current constraints.

When the new process was installed in 2024 to put the Group of Five head-to-head in voting, rather than independent yes/no determinations, I said (1) it would be mathematically difficult to get more than two inducted from that group and (2) if, for example, coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft were on the same Group of Five Ballot, they would eat up so many votes to make it very unlikely a senior player would be inducted.

That was not a coincidental point of emphasis. You could see it coming.

To be clear, Pats fans have a certain fervor. I learned about that in 2007 when I was the only AP voter out of 50 not to select Tom Brady as MVP. The AP voters work independently and damned if I thought everybody else voted for Brady, not that it would have changed my mind. I gave him my first-team All Pro quarterback nod.

He still won MVP with 49 votes, but mine went to Brett Favre, whose presence I thought was more valuable (words have meaning) on his young team than Brady was for the Pats, who also had Randy Moss, among many other standouts. The Boston/New England media buried me with brutal coverage. They leaked my email. I still get messages. Poor Tom was not a unanimous MVP. Wow.

Last year, more than one east coast reporter had were intensley focused on Kraft’s induction, and maintained contact with several selectors trying the pry early information on the selection status. At least one learned before it was announced that Kraft did not advance as a finalist. Multiple stories immediately surfaced contending that Kraft was being snubbed.

“Snubbed” is an interesting, but misused word used to describe Hall of Fame candidates who fall short. Fact is, selectors usually vote for somebody, not against somebody. So “snubbed” is rarely, if every appropriate.

That brings us to this year’s Group of Five, which features what I call the “Patriots Parlay” — Belichick and Kraft. Although I preferred a different type of contributor, Clark Schaughnessy, I made it clear that Kraft and Belichick are certainly worthy of Hall of Fame induction.

Still, I believe that the Pats Parlay will suck up too many votes in the strict Group of Five voting to allow sufficient consideration for the three great senior player finalists. Remember Anderson, Craig and L.C. Greenwood? We recognized their credentials in an earlier story.

FWIW, over the past two years, I conducted three casual surveys that included a dozen selectors who were asked to list their top five senior player candidates in order. The survey did not include coaches or contributors. Each time it was Roger Craig who finished on top. So, it will be interesting to see how he fares against the draw of the Patriots Parlay.

With the Modern-Era process continually dumping HOF-worthy players into an overburdened seniors pool — this year it was eight-time All-Pro and second-team All Decade guard Steve Wisniewski — we need a more efficient way to combat such recency bias. I thought that was why we devote so much time and energy on senior players.

But we will be pleasantly surprised if any of the senior player finalists are inducted in the 2026 Class using the current process. Even Jethro would find it hard to solve this Gazinta challenge.

In reality, it is more of a Bazinga.

Next: a deep dive into the Modern-Era process, including a look at the history of recency bias, which is becoming a serious impediment to maintaining a proper perspective on the integrity of the Hall of Fame. We will include exclusive charts and research for paid subscribers.