When Jessica Day ended her relationship with her cheating boyfriend in the New Girl pilot episode, she was left looking for a place to live, and ended up moving in with three guys: Schmidt, Nick and Coach. But by the time the second episode aired, Coach was nowhere to be seen. Changes following the pilot aren't unusual, but this was a rather surprising one, as Coach was a key character. What happened to Coach, and why was he only in the pilot episode?
Jess had a rough time in that pilot. Employed as a school teacher at Coolidge Middle School (and, later, Banyon Canyon), Jess got home one day to find her boyfriend, Spencer, cheating on her. The natural choice was to walk away from the relationship. While that was the right option, it also created as many problems as it solved. Jess was living with Spencer at the time, and ending the relationship left her with nowhere to go.
Who Was Coach on New Girl?
After ending her relationship, Jess took a chance and answered a Craigslist ad, a move that doesn't always work out for the best. That's how Jess met the three guys who would become some of her closest friends. And in the case of Nick, they would develop a much deeper connection than that. But one of those three roommates was Coach, whose arc through the series was much different than most of the characters.
Played by Damon Wayans Jr., Ernie "Coach" Tagliaboo was a personal trainer and a former health teacher who lived with Schmidt and Nick. The trio interviewed Jess when she was on the hunt for a new home. She moved in with them in the pilot episode, but by Episode 2, Coach was gone, replaced in the apartment by a former basketball player named Winston Bishop. The on-screen reason given was that Coach moved in with his girlfriend, Malia.
Why Coach Left New Girl - and How He Returned
Behind the scenes, there was a much different reason for Coach's departure. Coach was played by the talented and funny Damon Wayans Jr. At the time the pilot for New Girl was being shot, Wayans was on the series Happy Endings, which he didn't expect to be renewed for Season 2. When Happy Endings was renewed, Wayans had to leave New Girl behind.
Happy Endings wrapped up after Season 3. But as unfortunate as that was, the end of the series freed up Wayans to return to New Girl. Coach made his comeback in Season 3 as a full-time cast member. Once again, the reasoning for this hinged on Coach's girlfriend, Malia, but this time their breakup resulted in Coach coming back into the lives of Jess and company.
The whole situation got even more convoluted when Coach stopped being a series regular at the end of Season 4, especially as he made sporadic appearances throughout seasons 5 through 7, was frequently mentioned. This time, his absence was justified by Coach moving to New York with his new girlfriend. By the end of the series, it had gotten incredibly difficult to keep up with all of Coach's comings and goings.