When Jessica Day ended her relationship with her cheating boyfriend in the first episode of New Girl, 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 rolled around, Coach was suddenly gone from the series. Changes after a pilot often happen with a new series, but this was a rather surprising one as Coach was absolutely a key character.

Jess had a very rough time in that pilot episode. Employed as a school teacher, Jess got home one day to find her boyfriend, Spencer, cheating on her. The natural choice was to walk away from the relationship, and while it 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 homeless with nowhere to go.

new girl damon wayans jr coach

She took a chance and answered a Craigslist ad, a move that doesn't always work out for the best. This was how Jess met the three guys who would become some of her closest friends. And in the case of Nick, they would developed a much deeper relationship than that. But one of those three roommates was Coach, whose arc through the series was much different than most of the characters.

Ernie "Coach" Tagliaboo was a personal trainer and a former health teacher who lived with Schmidt and Nick. Together, this 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 and was 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.

Coach, Schmidt, and Nick on the couch in the New Girl pilot

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 Jr. was on the series Happy Endings, which he did not expect to be renewed for Season 2. When Happy Endings did end up getting renewed, Damon Wayans Jr. had to leave New Girl behind.

Happy Endings --one of the funniest and most underrated sitcoms of all time -- wrapped up after Season 3, and as unfortunate as this was, the end of the series freed up Wayans Jr. to return to New Girl. Coach made his comeback in Season 3 as a full-time member of the cast. 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 and was often 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.

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About The Author

Ian Goodwillie (882 Articles Published)

Ian Goodwillie is a freelance writer based out of Saskatoon, SK, Canada. He has a BA in English Literature from the University of Saskatchewan and completed the Writing Program at Vancouver Film School. More importantly, Ian is also a wrestling fan, comic book reader, video game player, and photographer. He loves to write and writes about what he loves. Ian's also an unrepentant, unapologetic Cougar Town fan, a show he will defend until the day he dies. Follow him on Twitter at @ThePrairieGeek.

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