Ex-49ers coaches Seifert, Shanahan, Holmgren among semifinalists for Hall of Fame
By JOSH DUBOW
Two-time Super Bowl-winning coaches Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan and George Seifert are among the nine semifinalists in the coaching category for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
One other Super Bowl winner, Mike Holmgren, also made the cut Thursday after voting by the Hall’s nine-member Blue Ribbon committee. The committee will meet Nov. 19 to pick one finalist to go before the Hall’s full selection committee for consideration early next year.
The one coaching candidate will be grouped with one contributor and three seniors candidates. Between one and three of those five finalists will make it to the Hall based on getting at least 80% of the votes from the full committee.
Coughlin, Shanahan and Seifert are among the 14 coaches who have won multiple Super Bowls. Nine of those coaches are already in the Hall and Bill Belichick and Andy Reid are not yet eligible.
Coughlin coached 20 years for Jacksonville and the New York Giants. He led the Jaguars to the AFC title game in their second season as a franchise and back again in the 1999 season. But his greatest success came after taking over the Giants in 2004.
He led the franchise to a Super Bowl title in the 2007 season when New York upset the undefeated Patriots and then knocked off Belichick, Tom Brady and New England again four years later. Coughlin finished with a 170-150 regular-season record.
Seifert helped San Francisco win two titles as a defensive coordinator under Bill Walsh and then two more as head coach after taking over for Walsh in 1989.
He won at least 10 games in all eight seasons in charge of the 49ers with his 98-30 record (.766) the best for any coach on a single team with at least 100 games. But he was unable to duplicate that success in three seasons with Carolina, 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 in Denver in 1997-98. Shanahan finished with a 170-138 record for the Raiders, Broncos and Washington and his impact on the game is still strong today through his disciples, including his son, Kyle, who coaches San Francisco.
Four other current NFL head coaches worked under Shanahan in Washington — Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur and Raheem Morris — and the offensive system he brought into the league that tied the outside zone run with the passing game is still the most prevalent in the league today.
Holmgren preceded Shanahan as offensive coordinator in San Francisco and also had a big impact on future coaches with Reid and Jon Gruden going on to win Super Bowls after working under Holmgren in Green Bay. Holmgren had a 161-111 record for the Packers and Seahawks, winning the title in 1996. He also got to the Super Bowl the following season in Green Bay and then again in the 2005 season in Seattle.
The other semifinalists include Chuck Knox, who won Coach of the Year Awards with the Rams, Bills and Seahawks; Dan Reeves, who went to four Super Bowls with Denver and Atlanta; and Marty Schottenheimer, who won 200 regular-season games and made the playoffs 13 times in 20 full seasons as a head coach in Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego.
Bill Arnsparger, the defensive coordinator for Miami’s perfect team in 1972 and Super Bowl winner the following season, also made the cut.
The final candidate is the innovative Clark Shaughnessy, a former Stanford head coach who is considered the “father of the T formation” and three-receiver set during his long career that included a stint as an adviser to Bears coach George Halas for a 73-0 title game win over Washington in 1940, two years as head coach of the Rams and a stint as defensive coordinator for Halas in Chicago.