Pro Football Hall of Fame honors 3 longtime assistants with Awards of Excellence

Longtime assistant coaches Dick Hoak, Elijah Pitts and Jim McNally will be honored with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Awards of Excellence for the 2025 class.

The three assistants were announced Tuesday as the fourth class of assistant coaches to receiver the award given to coordinators or position coaches.

Hoak played 10 years for Pittsburgh before joining Chuck Noll’s staff in 1972 as running backs coach. He held that job for 35 straight seasons and helped tutor Hall of Famers Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis. Hoak was part of five Super Bowl champions and the Steelers led the NFL in rushing during his time as an assistant.

Pitts won five NFL championships and two Super Bowls as a running back in Green Bay in the 1960s before starting a long coaching career that include time with Hall of Famers Earl Campbell and Thurman Thomas. Pitts helped the Rams make the playoffs in four straight seasons with a strong rushing attack in the 1970s before following head coach Chuck Knox to Buffalo.

He spent three seasons with the Bills, three years with Houston and one year in the CFL before returning to Buffalo in 1985. He helped the Bills make four straight Super Bowl trips before retiring after the 1997 season.

FILE – Buffalo Bills acting head coach Elijah Pitts prior to his team’s game against the New England Patriots at Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Oct. 22, 1995. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

McNally spent 43 seasons in the NFL with as an offensive line coach and consultant beginning in Cincinnati in 1980. He coached Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz for his entire 13-year career with the Bengals and helped the team reach two Super Bowls.

He also coached for Carolina, the Giants and Buffalo before serving as a consultant for New Orleans, the Jets and the Bengals following his retirement from coaching. He retired for good in 2023.

The three coaches will be honored at a ceremony in June along with Pete Abitante, Jason Jenkins and Bill Keenist, who were picked earlier this month as the recipients of the Awards of Excellence in the public relations directors category. The Hall will still announce winners for athletic trainers, equipment managers and film and video directors.