A Last Hurrah for ‘Coach’ as It Leaves the Playing Field

Translated into sports parlance, “Coach” has been what its creator calls “the classic sixth man,” a role player capable of producing results wherever it’s been asked to go.

The ABC series has spent its career in the shadow of TV superstars like “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement.” Small wonder, then, that those involved with the sitcom find themselves in the spotlight only now, as the show concludes its nine-year run with a two-part episode beginning tonight and concluding next Wednesday.

Even after 200 episodes, the cast and producers generally accept the program’s status as a second-stringer; still, they also point out proudly that “Coach” kept finding viewers despite being bounced around ABC’s schedule, landing in new time periods on at least 15 occasions.

“When you put a show on five different nights in however many time slots, you’re really demanding a lot from an audience,” said Barry Kemp, who created the series, which stars Craig T. Nelson as football coach Hayden Fox.

“Coach” is what TV pundits generally refer to as a satellite (or, less charitably, scavenger) show, one that feeds off the program preceding it. Asked to play without riding the coattails of “Roseanne” or “Home Improvement,” “Coach” often faltered; placed behind an established hit, the show invariably retained a high percentage of those viewers.

“Each year I figured was our last,” said Jerry Van Dyke, a four-time Emmy nominee as Fox’s addle-brained assistant coach, Luther. “We were never really a hit. . . . We were lways kind of a cleanup show; you put us behind ‘Roseanne’ and we cleaned up OK. We didn’t know from year to year if we were going to be picked up the next year.”

This season has demonstrated the program’s roller-coaster ride. ABC initially scheduled the show at 9 p.m. Saturdays, and results were poor. “Coach” then spent some time on the bench before returning between “Grace Under Fire” and “The Drew Carey Show,” immediately improving ABC’s performance.

“Any time they would put ‘Coach’ on, on any given night, it would work,” said Greg Meidel, chairman of the MCA Television Group, whose Universal Television arm produces the series. “ ‘Coach’ was the best 9:30 show ABC had. . . . It was just a show that wouldn’t go away.”

While “Coach” was on hiatus, the producers and cast huddled to decide how to end the series.

“It’s always nice to leave the party a little before you’re asked to,” Kemp said, adding that the show had “earned the right to go out with a little dignity.”

“The show had run its gamut. We were into having babies. When you get there, you’re in trouble,” Van Dyke quipped.

Even so, talk about spinning off a new program featuring Nelson and Shelley Fabares--who plays Hayden’s wife, Christine--continued after the finale was taped in March.

Universal proposed moving the couple to a new venue, with Hayden becoming the coach of a women’s basketball team. The studio didn’t need more episodes for syndication (where “Coach” repeats are expected to gross more than $250 million) but was willing to transfer the characters into a different show with a new title.

ABC ultimately turned down the concept, a decision that sources near the show questioned, given the network’s current lineup deficiencies and “Coach’s” proven ability to prop up ailing time slots.

ABC declined to comment.

Fabares said discussion about a new show never became tangible enough to reach her.

“What I wanted to keep doing was ‘Coach,’ ” she said. “While it may have ended before we were all ready for it to end, we were very pleased about the way it ended.”

Nelson, who was also one of the show’s producers, declined to be interviewed. In a statement, the actor thanked the fans and said the show has been “a major part” of his life.

Unlike “Married . . . With Children,” which was canceled after the season finale was shot, knowing that “Coach” was in its last year allowed the producers to craft a story line that would bring closure to the series.

In the final arc, the team owner (“Soap’s” Katherine Helmond) offers Hayden a long-term contract to remain in his job. He and Christine retire to a Minnesota cabin to weigh the offer, encountering Larry, Darryl and Darryl, the bizarre brothers from “Newhart,” which Kemp also created. Next week’s hour features flashbacks from earlier episodes and an “American Graffiti”-style update on what happens to the characters.

“It was fun to be able to bring [Hayden] to a place of satisfaction,” said Kemp. “Craig just wanted to be able to say something to that audience that had watched it for nine years, but we were determined not to be maudlin. . . . We still have a joke at the end.”

Though never a critical darling, “Coach” did earn Nelson a 1992 Emmy award as outstanding actor in a comedy and nominations for Fabares and Van Dyke. Those associated with the program cite strong chemistry among the cast as a factor in its longevity, which remains a surprise even to them.

“I just thought I’d be able to pay off my student loan,” said Bill Fagerbakke, who plays the coach’s other assistant, Dauber. “This was my first TV show. This will be a tough act to follow.”

“I know it sounds tired, but this is one of those cases where it really was a family,” said Fabares, adding that she “sort of fell apart” leading up to the final episode because of the bond she shared with her co-workers.

Van Dyke is more detached about the show’s demise, saying it’s understandable that a new executive regime at ABC “wants to do their own thing.” Nor does Kemp feel cheated that “Coach” has been an afterthought through much of its network run, a stretch in which ABC Entertainment has undergone four coaching changes of its own.

“I think that ‘Roseanne’ and ‘Home Improvement’ got the fanfare that they deserved,” he said. “They were truly breakthrough shows. ‘Coach’ wasn’t designed to be that kind of breakout show. It didn’t have as broad an audience base, but it had an intense base.”

Van Dyke thinks that low profile is precisely why “Coach” lasted so long. “Not being a major hit kept us on for nine years,” he said. “We were an also-ran, but we also-ran pretty good.”

* “Coach” airs at 8:30 tonight and concludes with a one-hour episode next week at 8 p.m. on ABC (Channel 7).