ENDED TV SERIES

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Coach follows the exploits of Coach Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), his family, friends, and football team.

Hayden is head coach of the brilliantly named, but sadly fictional, Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles football team. There he is joined by defensive coordinator Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke) and special team coach Michael “Dauber” Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke).

In addition to his coaching staff, the series introduces Hayden’s girlfriend, news anchor Christine Armstrong (Shelley Fabares), his daughter, Kelly (Clare Carey) and her boyfriend, Stuart Rosebrock (Kris Kamm). Add to the mix the athletic director of Minnesota State, Howard Burleigh (Kenneth Kimmins), Howard’s wife, Shirley, (Georgia Engel) and one of coach’s least favorite people, ladies’ basketball coach Judy Watkins (Pam Stone) and you have a cast of characters who’ll keep you glued to the screen.

Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson) – Hayden is head coach of the Screaming Eagles football team, a divorced father with one daughter, Kelly, who has recently moved to Minnesota and enrolled at the university to be nearer to the father she barely knows. Although glad of the chance to get to know his daughter, protective Hayden finds it difficult to remember that she’s no longer a little girl; needless to say, he can’t stand Kelly’s long-term boyfriend, Stuart Rosebrock. Hayden’s girlfriend is Christine Armstrong, who is very far from sharing his love of football, sports and coaching. Even so, and despite their constant bickering, it’s clear Hayden and Christine are right for each other. Hayden’s best friend is Luther Van Dam, always by his side (even when Hayden wishes he wasn’t!).

Christine Armstrong (Shelley Fabares) – Christine is a television news anchor and the complete opposite of Hayden Fox. Although they at first do not seem right for each other, there is some force that seems to keep bringing them back to one another. Pretty, intelligent and full of charm, Christine wants it all: a husband, children and a career. She is kind to Hayden’s friends and helps him to forge a relationship with his daughter Kelly, as well as smoothing things over in other relationships where Hayden needs just a little more finesse. Her love for him deepens as time goes by, surprising not only Hayden but herself as well. They’re not a typical couple, but it’s a relationship that’s built to last.

Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke) – Luther is the defensive coordinator for the Screaming Eagles and Hayden’s best friend. An older gentleman, Luther’s lifelong struggle with self-confidence can sometimes be mistaken for a lack of intelligence. A devout bachelor, Luther nevertheless has a few relationships along the way and is loved by all who know him.

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Kelly Fox (Clare Clarey) – Kelly is Hayden’s only child. Her parents divorced when she was young, and for most of her life she has seen her father only briefly. Now, with Kelly enrolled at Minnesota State, those days are gone and while Hayden and Kelly are happy that they now see each other every day, their new relationship is far from easy. Hayden has trouble dealing with his daughter as a young woman and Kelly has difficulty letting her father be a “dad”; but they muddle through and eventually forge a strong relationship.

Michael “Dauber” Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke) – Dauber, as he is called by everyone except his girlfriend, Judy, is a former player for the Screaming Eagles and now coaches the special team. A very tall, kind and sometimes not so bright guy, he no longer plays for the team but is still attending classes as he has not yet managed to graduate. Dauber is the type of man who would do anything for someone he cares for, whether it’s family, friend or someone in between. Handsome, caring and dedicated, Dauber Dybinski is one of a kind.

Stuart Rosebrock (Kris Kamm) – Stuart is the boyfriend of Kelly Fox, a theatre mime with a gentle soul and a rather feminine nature, traits which annoy the manly, sports-loving Hayden Fox. Stuart and Kelly get married not long after they start dating, a fact which seems to drive Hayden crazy whenever he is forced to spend any amount of time with his new son-in-law. Stuart tries to earn Hayden’s respect, but is sadly unsuccessful.

Howard Burleigh (Kenneth Kimmins) – Howard is the Athletic Director at Minnesota State and a source of constant frustration to Coach Fox, especially in early episodes. At first he’s a stickler for the rules but later begins to mellow, and he and his wife, Shirley, become close friends with Hayden and Christine.

Shirley Burleigh (Georgia Engel) – Shirley is the gentle and softly-spoken wife of Howard Burleigh. Occasionally a little crazy, she is also kind, thoughtful and caring.

Judy Watkins (Pam Stone) – Judy is the ladies’ basketball coach at Minnesota State and, much like Stuart Rosebrock, is someone Hayden Fox would be much happier not having in his life. Unfortunately, their paths are constantly crossing in the sports department and, to add insult to Hayden’s injury, she and Dauber Dybinski, the special teams coach and Hayden’s close friend, begin dating. Judy is tall, intelligent and from the South, a combination Hayden can never let go of and part of the reason for his many, many pranks on her. Judy, though, gives as good as she gets, often coming out on top.

Doris Sherman (Katherine Helmond) – Doris joins the show in the final seasons. A recent widow, she now owns a (fictional) NFL expansion team called “The Orlando Breakers” and offers Hayden the opportunity to fulfil his lifetime dream of coaching a team in the NFL. Unfortunately, Doris cares more about making money than winning – something that causes friction with Hayden. She is, however, a kind, attractive older woman who also has an eye for Luther.

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Main Cast

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Additional Cast

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Trivia

Craig T. Nelson added the “T” as a middle initial to avoid confusion with actor Craig Richard Nelson, who had already registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

Shelley Fabares’s husband, Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H fame, appeared in one episode of Coach.

When Jerry Van Dyke (Luther Van Dam) first started his stand-up comedy routines, it was usually at some strip club or dive in the Deep South. He was once a regular on the Playboy Club circuit, working towards getting into the top showrooms in places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe.

Craig T. Nelson (Hayden Fox) planned to become a hydroplane racer before choosing a career in acting. His father, however, told him it would be impossible – just like becoming an actor.

Bill Fagerbakke (Dauber Dybinski) is the voice of Patrick Star on SpongeBob SquarePants.

Georgia Engel’s (Shirley Burleigh) most famous role is as Georgette on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Clare Carey’s (Kelly Fox) birthplace is not known for certain. It is variously cited as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Despite being brought up a Catholic and attending a strict fundamentalist Christian College, Katherine Helmond (Doris Sherman) became known for her talented delivery of sexual innuendo.

In addition to being an actress, talk radio host and writer, Pam Stone (Judy Watkins) is also a stand-up comedian. She is one of only a handful of comedians to have been invited to perform at The White House.

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Kris Kamm (Stuart Rosebrock) has had small roles on television shows such as Murder She Wrote, 21 Jump Street and Married With Children.

In 1962 Shelley Fabares (Christine Armstrong) had a number one Billboard hit with the song Johnny Angel.

Kenneth Kimmins (Howard Burleigh) enjoys practising the Japanese martial art of Shorinji Kempo.

The theme song to the series was performed by the Iowa State University Cyclone Football “Varsity” Marching Band, after they won a national contest for the opportunity to play it. The character of Hayden Fox was also named after an Iowa football coach, Hayden Fry, as it was the alma mater of Barry Kemp, the creator and producer of Coach. Fittingly, the exterior shots of “Minnesota State” were also filmed at the University of Iowa.

In 1952, Jerry Van Dyke joined the Air Force, but that didn’t mean giving up on comedy; he performed in Special Services shows for the troops, won a military talent contest and earned a few spots on The Ed Sullivan Show as well.

In the late 1960s, Shelley Fabares co-starred with Elvis Presley in three of his films.

Georgia Engel has been a regular on five different sitcoms: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Betty White Show, Goodtime Girls, Jennifer Slept Here and of course, Coach. She has also had recurring roles on several shows including Rhoda, Passions, The Office, Hot in Cleveland and Two and a Half Men, with a number of parts – such as her role in Everybody Loves Raymond – growing in importance as the series progressed.

Whilst known primarily as a television actress, Katherine Helmond has also starred on Broadway and in other stage productions, including giving an acclaimed performance in The Vagina Monologues in the 2000s.

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Bill Fagerbakke provides the voice for the character Broadway in the animated series Gargoyles.

Originally, the series was meant to reflect the University of Minnesota and their football team the Golden Gophers, but the University later withdrew its approval.

Jerry Van Dyke was offered the title role on the series Gilligan’s Island but turned it down because he thought it was “the worst thing” he had ever read. Instead he chose a role in the series My Mother the Car. Gilligan’s Island became a huge hit that is still shown in syndication today, whilst My Mother the Car turned out to be one of the most criticized sitcoms in TV history. Van Dyke’s eye for a winner didn’t improve: when Don Knotts left The Andy Griffith Show, he was offered the opportunity to replace him and turned that down too.

Shelley Fabares has been married twice. The first time was to record producer Lou Adler, and although they were married for a total of sixteen years, they were separated for fourteen of them. Her second marriage to M*A*S*H actor, Mike Farrell, appears much more successful and has lasted for thirty years.

Craig T. Nelson has a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Shelley Fabares’s aunt, Nanette Fabares, played her character’s (Christine Armstrong) mother in four episodes.

Jerry Van Dyke won four Emmy nominations in a row for his role as Luther Van Dam.

Katherine Helmond has been married twice but never had children. She has been married to her second husband, David Christian, for more than fifty years.

Craig T. Nelson’s son, Noah Nelson, appeared in several episodes of Coach, but not as the same character.

Georgia Engel’s father, Benjamin Franklin Engel, was in the United States Coast Guard and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral.

Bill Fagerbakke was a talented high school footballer and received many offers to play college football, including some from Pac-8 schools. He opted instead to stay in Idaho, where he had grown up. In 1976, during his sophomore football season at the University of Idaho, despite being ticketed to “redshirt”, he was called into play during the fourth game. The Vandals (Idaho University’s football team) ended up going 7-4, which was their first winning season in five years. Of the seven games that Fagerbakke started in, they were 5 and 2, which had Coach Ed Troxel planning on moving him to the offensive line in 1977. Unfortunately, a knee injury during the spring drills ended Fagerbakke’s football career forever.

Jerry Van Dyke’s brother, Dick Van Dyke, appeared in one episode of the series as an uncredited extra.

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In 1998, Shelley Fabares broke several ribs in an accident at home. She completely recovered but was later diagnosed with a severe auto-immune disease and received a liver transplant in 2000. Thankfully she survived, but with the exception of supplying the voice of Martha Kent on the animated Superman series, she has not acted since.

Craig T. Nelson’s first major film role was in the 1982 horror film Poltergeist, still considered to be of the best made and scariest movies of all time.

In 1991, Jerry Van Dyke’s daughter, Kelly Jean Van Dyke, hanged herself. She had been speaking on the telephone to her husband, the late Jack Nance, and had apparently been threatening suicide, but in the midst of his attempts to console her a lightning storm knocked out the telephones. By the time he and his director, Bobby Logan, were able to find a deputy sheriff who contacted the L.A. Police Department and the apartment manager, Kelly had died. She was known to have difficulties with substance abuse and had also worked in the adult film industry under the name of Nancee Kelly.

Katherine Helmond is best known for her role as Mona Robinson on the popular series Who’s the Boss?

Shelley Fabares was the best friend of actress Annette Funicello from the time they met in a 7th grade catechism class until her death in 2013.

Georgia Engel got her college degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and in 1967, Engel’s sister, Robin Ruth Engel, was crowned Miss Hawaii.

Kris Kamm left Coach in order to pursue other acting opportunities. He did, however, return for the final episode.

Bill Fagerbakke’s character on Coach was based on a former assistant coach at Idaho nicknamed “Tuna”.

At the time of the series, there was no school in Minnesota named Minnesota State University. Since then, however, two schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System have renamed themselves. In 1999 Mankato State University became Minnesota State University Mankato, and the following year Moorhead State University changed its name to Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Despite being brought up a Catholic Katherine Helmond, like her husband, is a practicing Buddhist.

Shelley Fabares starred in the long-running series The Donna Reed Show.

Pam Stone won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-Up in 1992.

Jerry Van Dyke is a keen poker player and has participated in ESPN tournaments.

Clare Carey is married with two children.

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Craig T. Nelson was the quarterback of his football team in high school.

The Orlando Breakers, the NFL expansion team that Hayden gets the opportunity to coach, is based on the defunct USFL and the Portland Breakers, Boston Breakers and New Orleans Breakers. The team itself is a parody of the Florida-based Jacksonville Jaguars, who, like the Breakers, also joined the NFL in 1995 as an expansion team.

Craig T. Nelson has been married twice. His first marriage to Robin McCarthy ended in divorce but produced three children, Tiffany, Chris and Noah. He has been married to his second wife, Doria Cook Nelson, for the past 27 years.

Thirty-five years after The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended, Georgia Engel was reunited with one of her former cast mates, Betty White, when she had a recurring role in Hot in Cleveland.

Shelley Fabares has never had children of her own but is stepmother to her second husband’s children from a previous marriage, Erin and Michael Farrell.

Jerry Van Dyke and his second wife, Shirley, spend most of their time on his ranch in Arkansas where they raise cattle.

After being married for 23 years, Bill Fagerbakke filed for separation from his wife, Catherine, in 2012.

Craig T. Nelson is a devoted racer and motorsports fan. In 1991, he entered the Toyota Celebrity Long Beach Grand Prix for the first time and came in third place.

Kris Kamm has been in several films including The Heroes of Desert Storm, Wyatt Earp and When the Party’s Over.