COACH (TV SERIES)

'''Coach''' is a popular American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997.
The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the 'Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles'. The series also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Bill Fagerbakke as Michael "Dauber" Daubinski, assistant coaches under Nelson's character. The role of love interest Christine Armstrong Fox, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares. Rob Schneider also made occasional appearances, as did Lenore Kasdorf as Hayden's ex-wife and Nanette Fabray (Shelley's real-life aunt) as Christine's mom Mildred.
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. 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, and Kelly left for a major ad agency job in 1993. She was only seen in occasional guest spots thereafter. 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. At the start of the final season in 1996, after the entire cast relocated to Orlando, the Foxes adopted a baby boy named Timothy (played by twins Brennan and Brian Felker). Many season 9 episodes focused on the couple's newfound joy of parenthood, as they had been unable to conceive a child together before they decided to adopt.

Contents

Origins

Setting

Minnesota State University

Orlando Breakers

Series Finale

Syndication

DVD Releases

References

External links

Origins

The creator and producer of the show, Barry Kemp, was an alumnus of the University of Iowa. He named the main character of ''Coach'' (Hayden Fox) after the University of Iowa's long-time football coach Hayden Fry. Many of the exterior shots of "Minnesota State" are actually of the University of Iowa, usually of students walking around the Iowa Memorial Union in downtown Iowa City. The screen shot when returning from commercial breaks is of the outside of the Hillcrest dormitory.

Setting

Minnesota State University

The fictional college Minnesota State University was intended to reflect the University of Minnesota and its team the Golden Gophers, but the University of Minnesota withdrew its approval. At the time no school was named Minnesota State University, but since then two schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System have renamed themselves such: Minnesota State University Mankato (formerly Mankato State University) and Minnesota State University Moorhead (formerly Moorhead State University).
In the fictional world of ''Coach'', Minnesota State takes the place of the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference; in several episodes the characters talk about games with Big Ten schools like The University of Iowa and Michigan State University. The Minnesota State Screaming Eagle school colors of Purple and Gold are also the colors for Minnesota State University, Mankato and the Minnesota Vikings. The University of Minnesota has school colors of Maroon and Gold. The Screaming Eagles reflect the reputation of the real-world Golden Gophers, widely seen as a poor football team, albeit one with a glorious past. The location for the fictional Minnesota State University is never established. It is not located within the Twin Cities, as is the real University of Minnesota. In several episodes Hayden Fox refers to visiting Christine in the Twin Cities and it is evident that he is maintaining a long distance relationship.
The Coach opening theme by J.A.C. Redford, which also served as the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles school song, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Minnesota March authored by John Phillip Sousa. The theme song was recorded by the Iowa State University Marching Band, and the band was also shown in the opening sequence of the show.^[1][2]
In the 1993-1994 television season, Hayden Fox led his Minnesota State Screaming Eagles to victory in the Pioneer Bowl, held at the Alamodome, winning the National Championship. In real life, Florida State won the National Championship that season. The first Alamo Bowl and Pioneer Bowl games had not been played yet. Footage from the 1993 Minnesota vs. Wisconsin game held in the Metrodome was used for the actual game to represent Minnesota State and the fictional West Texas University. Al Michaels provides the commentary during the game.

Orlando Breakers

In the 1995 season, Hayden gets a chance to fulfill his ultimate dream and become the head coach of a professional NFL team. But this opportunity comes at the expense of trying to do so with the fictional expansion team the Orlando Breakers, who are now owned by a recent widow, Doris Sherman played by Katherine Helmond who is more interested in making money off of the team rather than letting Coach Fox guide them to success on the football field. Nearly the entire crew from Minnesota State followed Hayden, including Luther and Dauber, who remained his assistant coaches.

Series Finale

The final episode of the sitcom aired on ABC on May 14, 1997. The last scene in the final episode featured the whole cast thanking the audience for nine years of the show, with cast member Jerry Van Dyke denying the series ending thinking the show must go on. But the cast and director finally tell Van Dyke that the show is truly over, with Van Dyke still denying the show's finale - that is until the lights go out and Van Dyke finally accepts that the show is completed.

Syndication

After the show's 1997 finale reruns of Coach began airing in syndication. the USA Network currently airs the show on weekday mornings at 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m (eastern time) and 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. (central time).

DVD Releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released season 1 of ''Coach'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. The Second season was released on May 15, 2007.

Title	Region 1	Region 2
The First Season	June 13 2006	August 7 2006
The Second Season	May 15 2007	TBA
The Third Season	TBA	TBA
The First Season Special Edition (Playbook Edition)	June 13 2006 (only available in R1)	N/A

References

1. http://www.music.iastate.edu/org/marching/history.php
2. http://www.project80s.com/television/television-80s.php?tvshow=Coach

External links

★ Episode guide

★ Coach blog