Ernie Pantusso was a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Nicholas Colasanto for the first three seasons. Coach was slow and forgetful, but always genial, warm, and caring, a marked contrast to the tough, plain-talking Carla Tortelli. He got his nickname from his tenure as a baseball coach; he had coached Sam Malone on the Boston Red Sox before Sam bought Cheers. However, he once said that he was called "Coach" because he preferred to fly in the coach section and never in first class. Quotes like this were characteristic of Coach.

Coach was an expert at being hit by a pitch. It is suggested that a few too many to the head led to his being slow and forgetful.

As a young man, Ernie dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. He played and then coached minor league baseball, ending up with Boston's farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox. He moved on to the Majors as Boston's third base coach when Sam Malone was pitching, and Sam hired him as a bartender when he bought Cheers. He loved the job so much that he spent his days off working at the bar. Coach's wife Angela had died before the show took place, and his daughter Lisa appeared in one episode, played by Allyce Beasley (Moonlighting). He became engaged to a widow named Irene Blanchard, but she broke off the engagement after winning the lottery.

When Colasanto died in 1985, the show's cast and crew honored him by hanging a portrait of Geronimo on the show's set. The picture had special meaning to Colasanto, and has been used at cast reunions to represent the actor. Sam straightens this picture on the wall at the end of the final episode of Cheers.

Coach's position at the bar was filled by Woody Boyd, who he had sponsored in a correspondence course in bartending, and the character was referenced throughout the show's run.

Quotes

Ernie "Coach" Pantusso: *answering the phone* Cheers. Ok, wait a minute, I'll check. Is there an "Ernie Pantusso" here?

Sam: That's you, Coach.

Coach: Speaking.

Brandee: (Sam's latest girl) Could you tell Sam that Brandee is here? That's Brandee, with two 'e's.

Coach: *looking at a liquor bottle* Huh! They've been spelling it wrong all these years...

Cheers characters | Fictional bartenders | Fictional coaches | Fictional Italian-Americans