NBC is taking another run at Coach, and this time Phil Dunphy is the one holding the clipboard. Ty Burrell is set to executive produce a single-camera reboot of the 1989–97 sitcom for NBC, with the intention of starring, Deadline reported Wednesday. TheWrap separately confirmed the project, citing a source familiar with it.
The logline, per Deadline: a legendary coach returns home to Minnesota to rebuild his alma mater’s basketball program and reconnect with the community that shaped him. That’s a swap from the original, which built nine seasons around Craig T. Nelson’s Hayden Fox and the (fictional) Minnesota State Screaming Eagles football team.
Who’s making it
Daniel and Matthew Libman, who co-created Peacock’s Mr. Throwback with Adam Pally and Stephen Curry and previously wrote on Happy Endings and Black Monday, are writing the reboot. They executive produce with Burrell and Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox, for Universal Television.
This is development, not a series order. Deadline describes the project as “in the works,” and neither report mentions a script commitment, a pilot order or any involvement from Nelson or original creator Barry Kemp. No NBC or Burrell statement accompanied the reports.
NBC’s last Coach revival never made it to air
The network has been here before. In 2015, NBC gave a 13-episode order to a Coach sequel from Kemp, set 18 years after the original ended, with Nelson’s Hayden Fox called out of retirement to help his grown son coach at an Ivy League school in Pennsylvania. One episode was shot before NBC passed on it, per Deadline. The new project is a reboot with a new coach rather than a continuation of that story.
For Burrell, Deadline notes it would be his first on-screen role since Modern Family ended its 11-season run in 2020; he has since worked in voice roles, including Fox’s Duncanville. He won two Emmys and a SAG Award for playing Phil Dunphy and was nominated for the Emmy eight years running.
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