EXCLUSIVE: NBC is giving a 2020s reboot to one of the top sitcoms of the 1990s with a star from one of the biggest comedies of the 2000s. Modern Family alum Ty Burrell is set to executive produce with the intention to star in Coach, a single-camera take on the 1989 ABC multi-camera comedy, which starred Craig T. Nelson. The new incarnation comes from Daniel Libman and Matthew Libman, co-creators of Peacock’s Mr. Throwback, Davis Entertainment and Universal Television.
Written by the Libman brothers, Coach centers on a legendary coach — the role earmarked for Burrell — who returns home to Minnesota to rebuild his alma mater’s basketball program and reconnect with his community.
Burrell, Daniel Libman and Matthew Libman executive produce alongside John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment. Universal Television, part of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
Created by Barry Kemp, the original Coach aired on ABC for nine seasons. It starred Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional NCAA Division I-A Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles football team and subsequently the Orlando Breakers, a fictional National Football League expansion team.
In 2015, NBC gave a 13-episode order to a sequel series from Kemp set 18 years later, with the title character Fox (Nelson) called back from retirement to become assistant coach to his grown son, Tim (Andrew Ridings) at an Ivy League school in Pennsylvania. After filming one episode, NBC opted to not move forward with the revival that also featured original cast member Bill Fagerbakke.
Burrell is best known for playing dad Phil Dunphy on the ABC comedy series Modern Family, which earned him eight consecutive Emmy nominations and two wins as well as a SAG Award. Coach would mark Burrell’s first on-screen role since the end of Modern Family; he was recently part of the voice cast of the Fox animated series Duncanville. Burrell is repped by Gersh and Goodman Genow Schenkman.
Matthew and Daniel Libman co-created with Adam Pally and David Caspe the 2024 Peacock comedy series Mr. Throwback, which was headlined by Pally and NBA star Stephen Curry and, like Coach, had a sports theme. The brothers also co-created the YouTube Premium series Champaign ILL with Caspe and Jordan Cahan. The Libmans, who also worked on Happy Endings and Black Monday, both created/co-created by Caspe, are repped by UTA, TFC Management and Hansen Jacobson Teller.