Coach (TV series)
| Coach | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Barry Kemp |
| Starring |
Craig T. Nelson Shelley Fabares Jerry Van Dyke Bill Fagerbakke Clare Carey Kenneth Kimmins Katherine Helmond |
| Theme music composer | John Morris |
| Composer(s) | J.A.C. Redford |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 200 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Barry Kemp |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Bungalow 78 Productions Universal Television |
| Distributor |
NBCUniversal Television Distribution The Program Exchange |
| Release | |
| Original network |
ABC Syndication |
| Original release | February 28, 1989 – May 14, 1997 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Coach is an American sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from February 28, 1989 to May 14, 1997, with a total of 200 half-hour episodes. The series stars Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles. For the last two seasons, Coach Fox and the supporting characters coached the Orlando Breakers, a fictional National Football League expansion team. The program also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam and Bill Fagerbakke as Michael "Dauber" Dybinski, assistant coaches under Fox. The role of Hayden's girlfriend (and later wife) Christine Armstrong, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares.
In 2015, NBC ordered a sequel series to Coach, set to focus on Hayden Fox's son, with Craig T. Nelson reprising his role as Hayden. However, on August 31, NBC scrapped its plans to air the series.
In early seasons, Coach Fox continues to come to grips with the emerging womanhood of his "little girl", Kelly, now a campus coed played by Clare Carey, who after being raised mostly by her mother, enrolled at Minnesota State mainly because she wanted to be near her father. Kelly dated (and eventually married in the second season) theater mime Stuart Rosebrock (Kris Kamm), whom Hayden could not stand. Their marriage ended in 1991 after Stuart, returning from filming his own kids TV show, Buzzy the Beaver, told Kelly that he'd met another woman. While overtly supporting Kelly with her heartbreak, Coach Fox clandestinely couldn't have been happier to have "Stu" out of both of their lives. After graduating from Minnesota State in 1993, Kelly was hired by a major ad agency in New York. She was only seen in occasional guest spots thereafter.
Much of Hayden's coaching job, besides mentoring his players, was working with his defensive coordinator Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke), a lifelong bachelor who often struggled with self-confidence, and special teams coach Michael "Dauber" Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke), an ex-player at Minnesota State and a stereotypical "dumb jock" whose ongoing joke was that he had not yet graduated from Minnesota State despite being enrolled for several years (he would later graduate with three bachelor's degrees in physical education, business administration, and forestry without even knowing it until he got his transcript for that semester), but who would often surprisingly be of intellectual help to the team, usually learned from a class he was attending or because he was a fan of Nova. Another person Hayden could not stand was the ladies' basketball coach Judy Watkins (Comedian Pam Stone), whom Hayden often got into prank wars with. His relationship with her was complicated by the fact that Dauber dated her until 1995, when she confessed to an affair after returning from a coaching job in Romania. Also seen throughout the run was Minnesota State athletic director Howard Burleigh (Kenneth Kimmins) and his nutty wife, Shirley (Georgia Engel), who were close friends with Hayden and Christine.
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