Coach aired from February 1989 until August 1997 on ABC.
Hayden Fox ( Craig T. Nelson), had both football and women on his mind in this broad comedy.As head coach of Minnesota State University's Screaming Eagles, he had to build up his bungling team with assistance from cheerful, but scatterbrained, Luther ( Jerry Van Dyke), and Dauber ( Bill Fagerbaake), a big, goofy, hulk of a player.
The women in his life always seemed to be a little more intelligent than Hayden. Christine( Shelley Fabares), was Hayden's steady girlfriend, a TV newswoman who wanted a little more attention than he was able to give. Kelly ( Claire Carey), was his 18-year-old daughter by a previous marriage, who now attended Minnesota State.
Everyone's love life went through comic twists and turns. To her dad's dismay, Kelly dated and eventually married theater mime Stuart ( Kriss Kamm), but they eventually broke up. Hayden and Christine broke up, then became engaged. Dauber fell in love with Hayden's rival, girls' basketball coach Judy Watkins (Pam Stone).
By 1990, the Screaming Eagles were on a winning streak and they earned their way to the Pioneer Bowl. Christine was also headed for the big time as she was offered network anchor jobs and her impending departure finally pushed Hayden to propose on the air in the fall of 1992. Three times during the 1992-93 season, they tried to get married. The first time came in Christine's home state of Kentucky, the second in Las Vegas and finally, in a peaceful setting in the woods. The first two were disasters but the third time was the charm.
Kelly left for an ad agency job in New York in 1994 but returned for guest appearances. Luther played the field with a trio of unlikey love interests including rich Mrs. Rizzendough, Lorraine and rowdy Ruthanne. Dauber's long-standing relationship with Judy continued. Howard ( Kennith Kemmins), was the bald college adminstrator with authority over Hayden's budget and Shirley ( Georgia Engel) was his nutty wife.
The 1995 season brought major changes when Hayden got his big break, leaving Minnesota to coach a pro expansion tean, The Orlando Breakers. The Breakers were owned by eccentric millionairess Doris Sherman ( Katherine Helmond). whose ideas for promotion and publicity sometimes colided with Hayden's love of the game. Most of the old gang moved to Florida with him, and new faces were seen representing the Breakers coaching staff. Dauber did leave Coach Judy behind and dated the field, including a girl who played Snow White at the local Grimm World Theme Park. The Breakers got off to a slow start, and Hayden was thhrown into a funk when he was asked to write a book, Learning To Live With Losing. Instead Luther picked up the idea, wrote something called, Just Short Of The Goal, and scored a major success.
In 1996 having exhausted every natural and scientifivc means of conceiving a child, Hayden and Christine adopted an adorable baby named Timothy. The final original episode in May 1997 brought closure and a look into the future for the principal characters. Hayden was offered contracts by several pro teams including $17 Million to stay with The Breakers for 10 more years. After much agonizing, he turned them all down and returned to Minnesota, in order to help Christine build her career. Luther quit and opened his own version of Graceland; Howard was fired, and with Shirley, opened a dinner theater in Florida; and Dauber stayed with The Breakers, winning 2 Super Bowls and eventually becoming a star commentator. And baby Timothy? He, we were told, grew up to be just like Hayden.
A Review from The New York Times
Reviews/Television; Relearning Fatherhood, In 'Coach'
By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: February 28, 1989
Proceeding on the not unreasonable assumption that plot logic is hardly a priority among sitcom fans, ABC is launching its new series ''Coach'' almost brazenly out of sequence. Tonight's ''preview,'' at 9:30, shows a college football coach, Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), desperately trying to become a good father when his daughter, Kelly (Clare Carey), newly enrolled at the college, announces she has a date with an older member of the faculty. It is only in tomorrow night's ''premiere,'' at 9, that the coach first learns Kelly has decided to enroll at the college. That's when we find out that the restless coach ''split up'' with Kelly's mother 16 years ago and hasn't paid much attention to his daughter in the intervening years. What will ''Coach'' have to face first: comprehension or cancellation?
Here again, then, we have another television series about a single parent and child. Created by Barry Kemp, ''Coach'' gives us a 44-year-old dad who is reluctantly starting all over again and wondering if he can handle this ''being-a-parent stuff.'' The daughter, meanwhile, resents his being overly protective and pauses regularly to say things like: ''I'm fully grown now. The only way I'm going to get hurt is if you don't trust me.'' Zzzzzz.
Most of the laughs, evidently, are supposed to be generated by the assorted jocks. Hayden is a nice guy, willing to say what he thinks people want to hear, but he is a bit slow on the uptake. There are lots of slow takes and blank looks. But Hayden is a whiz kid compared with his old friend and coaching assistant, Luther (Jerry Van Dyke), who has developed inarticulateness into an art form. And at the bottom of the dum-dum ladder there's the football player Dauber Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke), who still clings to the hope of graduating one of these years.
Mark Ganzel, one of the producers, wrote tonight's preview; Michael Zinberg directed. Tomorrow's premiere was written and directed by Mr. Kemp, who is also executive producer of the series. ''Coach'' is painlessly affable. Mr. Nelson, departing from his customary serious roles, reveals a nice sense of comic timing. The only thing missing is a smidgin of originality.
A Review from USA TODAY
TV PREVIEW/BY MONICA COLLINS
'Coach' needs a new game plan off the playing field
You know a tv comedy is headed downhill when it opens with the following " stay or go" formula.
Character A, the lead character is living a stress-free (i.e. selfish) life.
In this case he's the coach of a college football team in Minnesota-divorced for years, happy to remain the eternal jock/child.
Enter Character B, in this case the coach's daughter, to whom he hasn't been a full-time father in years.
Character B causes great turmoil in Character A's life. Can he be a good father after all these years? Can she understand his limitations and love him the way he is?
Will daughter stay, throwing Coach off track? Or will she go, meaning we have to deal with this nonsence?
I won't spoil it for you. Coach, unfortunately, already is spoiled.
The most promising moments in this show come when Coach Hayden Fox has to deal with players on the football field or catch a romantic pass.
Played by Craig T. Nelson, coach is a fairly likable fellow, whose emotional clumsiness and inarticulateness are amusing.
There's a pleasant chemistry between the coach and his sportscaster girlfriend ( Shelley Fabares). And when he carries on with his team or assistant coach Luther ( Jerry Van Dyke), the comedy potential is there.
After all, the show is called Coach. It's supposed to be about a guy fumbling and trying to make sense of the players and field around him.
Just so he doesn't bumble and fumble in the " What does it take to be a dad?" area-because that's been done before and done to death.
An Article from USA TODAY
Published on December 18, 1990
Mariage finally finds its way into the 'Coach 'lineup
By Jefferson Graham
USA TODAY
HOLLYWOOD-Reluctant romantic Hayden Fox asks his estranged girlfriend Christine to marry him tonight on Coach at 9:30 EST/PST.
But why did the coach ( Craig T. Nelson) and Christine ( Shelley Fabares) split in the first place?
" It was our way of explaining why these two very different people were together," Coach co-executive producer Sheldon Bull says. " It gave us a way to show what the two of them saw in each other."
Hayden is an " impulsive, emotional, headstrong, exciting sort of guy," Bull says. TV newscaster Christine is a beautiful, conservative woman from the right part of town. For both of them, opposites attract.
Over the past few weeks , " we've been able to explain why she's in her 40's and has never married," Bull says. " She always dated rather dull straight arrows before, and they just didn't turn her on." Life with Hayden, she said in one episode, was a "roller coaster, " and she loved it.
" Christine is the type of woman Hayden's never been out with before," Bull says. " He's intimidated by her, intimidated by her lifestyle and feels out of place in her world, but he's attracted to that too."
They broke up six weeks ago when Hayden refused to commit to marriage. He's never got over the failure of his first marriage years ago, and the hex his ex put on him when she said his obsession with career killed their marriage.
Hayden has since learned that he can't live without Christine. He also realizes that he wasn't solely responsible for the breakup of his marriage, and gets the nerve to propose to Christine.
But don't look for wedding bells to ring in the May sweeps. " We're not going to rush into anything," Bull says. " The engagement may last a year."
The breakup story is one part of the producers' master plan for the season-the worst year of Hayden's life.
So what's next? A broken leg? Death in the family? Getting fired from his position at Minnesota State?
Try none of the above.
" Things will start to look up for him in the spring," Bull says. " I think we've beaten up on this guy enough this year."
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