Coach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles. 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.
The show was created by Barry Kemp and ran for 200 episodes. Kemp's original idea for the program came from a dream he had one night. When he awoke he wrote seven pages of notes on the show's concept and tabled it for several years until he had time to devote to the project. He originally envisioned Dabney Coleman as the lead for Coach, but the actor was no longer available when the show went into production.
