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 Coachman in 2003 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathan William Coachman (1973-08-12)August 12, 1973 (age 52) McPherson, Kansas, U.S.[2] |
Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jonathan Coachman The Coach |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
| Billed from | Fort Worth, Texas[1] |
| Trained by | Chris Benoit Shane McMahon |
| Debut | December 23, 1999 |
| Retired | 2021 |
Jonathan William Coachman[3] (born August 12, 1973), also known as "The Coach", is an American sports analyst and formerprofessional wrestling personality.
Before embarking on an announcing career inprofessional wrestling, Coachman was ahigh schoolbasketball player. After two state basketball championships at McPherson High School inMcPherson, Kansas, Coachman moved across town to continue playing forMcPherson College. While at McPherson, Coachman's interests included participating in theatre, serving as the sports editor for theschool newspaper, and doingplay-by-play andcolor commentary for the localfootball and basketball radio broadcasts. Coachman was also a sports reporter/anchor atKAKE inWichita, Kansas, and also lived for a time inNewton Falls, Ohio, frequently attendingYoungstown State Penguins basketball games.[4]
Coachman also starred in many instructional videos used for technical education classrooms of middle schools and high schools. One set of videos featured "Coach" instructing people on flight navigation and the basics ofairplanes. He also had a "boyfriend-in-a-box" modeled after him during college. Coachman also worked for localKansas City news stationKMBC-TV, where he was a correspondent forLarry King Live's coverage ofOwen Hart's death in May 1999.
Coachman began hisWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) career as an interviewer, commentator, and presenter onSmackDown! on January 13, 2000.[1] Coachman was also involved in occasional segments withThe Rock, in which The Rock attempted to humiliate Coachman in any form possible, whether it was forcing him to sing, dance, or smile for the camera. The Rock also accused Coachman of performing rather lewd activities with farm animals.
During winter of 2001, Coachman was pressed into service as asideline reporter for regional telecasts of the WWF-ownedXFL, initially serving on the same broadcast team as WWF commentatorsJim Ross andJerry Lawler.
The Coach made aheel turn againstShane McMahon on August 24, 2003, atSummerSlam.[5] After this he would have an on-screen role as the "lackey" to then General Manager ofRaw,Eric Bischoff.[6] The Coach continued to work as a heel and later teamed up with his fellowWWE Heat announcerAl Snow in a storyline feud against theRaw announce team,Jerry Lawler andJim Ross. This feud would even see the pair win the right to announce the main show from Ross and Lawler at one point, as The Coach and Snow defeated Ross and Lawler atUnforgiven.[7] Later, The Coach achieved a singles victory on pay-per-view atBacklash, in 2004 by defeatingTajiri (albeit with the assistance ofGarrison Cade).[8] The Coach would go on to host the 2004 and 2005Raw Diva Searches. Later, The Coach would gain his own column in the now defunctRaw Magazine ("Coach's Corner") and his own webcast onWWE.com ("CoachCast"). Coachman was officially added as the third member to theRaw broadcast team and signed a multi-year contract with WWE in 2005.
During October 2005, The Coach was involved in anangle involving the McMahon Family publicly firing Jim Ross due to the actions of Ross's friend,Steve Austin. The firing of Ross gave The Coach the position of lead announcer onRaw.[9] The storyline would culminate in a match atTaboo Tuesday where Austin was scheduled to face The Coach in a match with both Austin's and Ross's jobs on the line. Though the match was originally scheduled to be Austin versus The Coach, Austin refused to participate because of issues he had with the storyline (the original story was said to have called for Austin to lose following arun-in by the returningMark Henry).World Heavyweight ChampionBatista was renamed the opponent to play up theSmackDown! vs.Raw storylines. On the October 31, 2005 edition ofRaw, Batista came out and accepted the match only to be attacked by The Coach's backup, the returningGoldust andVader.[10] At Taboo Tuesday, Batista faced off against The Coach in a fan-voted Street Fight. Vader and Goldust tried to interfere in the match, but Batista won.[11] However, no mention of the Jim Ross stipulation was ever mentioned after the match.
FormerECW announcerJoey Styles soon replaced The Coach in a move that became permanent despite The Coach's on-air protestations that Styles' presence was temporary. The Coach retained a prominent role on the Raw announcing team as the heel representative of a three-man booth with Styles, the play-by-play man, andJerry "The King" Lawler, the babyfacecolor commentator.
On the January 23, 2006 edition ofRaw, The Coach defeated Lawler to win the last Raw spot in theRoyal Rumble match via interference from the debutingSpirit Squad.[12] The Coach would enter seventh during the match only to be eliminated almost immediately byBig Show.[13]
During the April 24 edition ofRaw, after Coachman hosted a Divas bikini contest,Viscera came down to the ring and performed theViscagra on Coachman.[14] During the commercial break of that show, still in the ring, he quit in protest of his treatment on Raw. On the May 29 edition ofRaw, it was revealed thatMr. McMahon had hired Coachman under the new position of McMahon'sExecutive Assistant; to aid McMahon in the daily running of theRaw brand, and actually acted as the General Manager when the McMahons were absent.[15] While Executive Assistant, Coachman, along with the McMahons, feuded with the reformedD-Generation X and also had issues withJohn Cena. On June 18, 2007, Coachman was officially named Interim General Manager ofRaw by the McMahon Family following the kayfabe death of Vince McMahon in a limo explosion.[16]
On the August 6, 2007 edition of Raw,William Regal became the newGeneral Manager on the Rawbrand after winning abattle royal featuring other participants from the Raw roster. As a result, Coachman was removed from his position as Interim General Manager and became Regal's new assistant.[1] However, following a kayfabe assault by John Cena on Regal during the September 3 edition ofRaw, Regal had to be temporarily relieved of his duties as General Manager at which point Coachman was once again named interim General Manager ofRaw until Regal was fit to resume his role.[17] On the October 1 edition ofRaw, Regal returned as General Manager which resulted in Coachman being once again demoted to his prior rank.[18]
On the December 3, 2007 edition ofRaw, Coach was in aNo DQ Handicap match withCarlito againstHornswoggle, with whom he had been having problems. However, Hornswoggle had paid theAPA to protect him during the match. Coachman was pinned by Hornswoggle after aClothesline from Hell and aTadpole Splash.[19]
A rivalry ensued and one night Coachman chased Hornswoggle all over the backstage area, and it eventually moved to the arena, where Hornswoggle performed his "hide under the ring" trick to get away. Coachman moved to the other side of the ring and pulled out adetonator, much to the surprise ofJim Ross. He attempted to activate the detonator twice, but nothing happened. He then moved under the ring to check the explosives, and Hornswoggle came out from under the ring, and successfully detonated the explosives, causing smoke to appear from under the ring, and the cameras to make television screens change color, from gray to rainbow, and according to Ross, the building shook. Coachman was charred and unable to move.
On the January 4, 2008 episode ofSmackDown!, Coachman would replaceJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), who rejoinedRaw the previous week, on commentary alongsideMichael Cole. Later that year in June, Coachman's contract expired after he decided not to renew it.
On March 25, 2016, Coachman made a special appearance during WWE's live event held atMadison Square Garden. On the March 28 episode ofRaw, Coachman returned to WWE television for the first time in almost 8 years, cutting a promo withThe New Day. Coachman would also announce thatSportsCenter would be live leading up toWrestleMania 32 on April 3. On the January 22, 2018, episode ofRaw 25 Years, Coachman would appear in a backstage segment withRaw general managerKurt Angle and other past WWE talent,Harvey Wippleman,The Brooklyn Brawler,Theodore Long,Brother Love andThe Boogeyman.
On January 29, 2018, Coachman re-signed with WWE, joining theRaw commentary team alongsideMichael Cole andCorey Graves, replacingBooker T as color commentator.[20] On September 10, Coachman would leave theRaw commentary team, being replaced byRenee Young, with Coachman becoming the new pre-show panel host for pay-per-views.
Coachman also served as pregame host for the2020 incarnation of the XFL.[21] Coachman left WWE and the XFL in 2021, stating that he had expected to be reimbursed for his travel expenses but never was due to the XFL's bankruptcy.[22]
In 2008, Coachman leftWWE to begin a career with ESPN.[23] Starting in mid-2015, Coachman began presenting highlights of WWE's best moments of the week on ESPN and having weekly sitdown interviews with WWE wrestlers onSportsCenter. In October 2017, Coachman announced via hisPeriscope that his contract at ESPN had expired, thus confirming his departure from the network.
As WWE has a television deal with NBCUniversal, in 2018, he was named play-by-play announcer for the NBC-ownedWorld Long Drive Championship. Coachman is also a commentator for PGA Tour Live, which is anNBC Sports Gold subscription service providing additional coverage of golf tournaments.
As of 2021, Coachman was employed byCBS Sports.[22]
Coachman is also an analyst for Mixed Martial Arts promotionProfessional Fighters League.[24]
Coachman and his ex-wife Amy have two children. Amy is a former college athlete, and a personal trainer.[25]
In addition to his WWE assignments, Coachman called various sports events onCollege Sports Television, a cable and satellite network owned byCBS, including football, basketball, baseball and softball.[3] He also called college basketball forCN8. In addition, Coachman served as the part-time play-by-play announcer for theWNBA'sNew York Liberty on theMSG Network, as well as the studio host forNew York Knicks games. He also hosted the weekly MSG programMSG, NY.[26]
In 2009, Coachman signed with ESPN as anchor ofSportsCenter. In 2012, he became the host ofCoach & Company, a nationally syndicated radio program that airs onESPN Radio.
Coachman also lends his voice talents to the video gamesBlack College Football Xperience: The Doug Williams Edition,Madden NFL 19,Madden NFL 20,Madden NFL 21,Madden 24, andMadden 25 (2024).
,Cagematch,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database| Preceded by | Monday Night Raw Lead Announcer 2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Monday Night Raw Lead Announcer 2003 | Succeeded by |