| “ | I gotta be honest with you. I know I seem like a real gigolo, but actually I’m a little nervous because I’m a total virgin. | ” |
—Coach Steve in Steve the Virgin
| ||
Coach Steve (Full name: Steve Steve) is a recurring characters of the animated Netflix original series Big Mouth; and mainly serves a comic relief purpose. He teaches physical education, as well as sexual education at Bridgeton Middle School. He has an intellectual disability that impacts his memory, comprehension, and social awareness. Despite his challenges, he remains enthusiastic and well-meaning, often finding joy in simple things. He is voiced by Nick Kroll.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
Not much is known about Steve's life prior to the show, however in the episode "Steve the Virgin," it was revealed that Steve's mother had an affair on her husband with a man named Gary while Steve was a child. Steve also revealed later that Gary later locked Steve in a car while he committed suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
It was also mentioned in that episode that Coach Steve was born with a birth defect, giving him eyeballs on his penis. The doctor surgically removed them when he was 4.
Teenage Years[]
Little to nothing has been revealed about Coach Steve's teenage years, as the show has yet to even glance upon the subject. However, it is known for certain that during Coach Steve's teenage years, he was assigned Rick as his hormone monster, A grotesque, dim-witted, and senile hormone monster, equally as dysfunctional as he is. Coach Steve would never lose his virginity until his adult years and so Rick would stick with him until he became an adult.
Coach Steve was apparently taught nothing about sex or human anatomy, neither by his parents or his teachers. Even Rick's sexual knowledge was woefully lacking. This caused Coach Steve to grow up with a very twisted and somewhat childlike perspective on sex, as seen by the fact that he refers to penises and vaginas as peculiar euphemisms such as "Peenas" and "Sweeties", respectively. This made puberty for him extremely bizarre as he had no idea what was happening to his body. Coach Steve never learned how to masturbate properly either. As detailed by Coach Steve in "Am I Normal?", he "grinds the pepper" by grabbing his penis with both hands and squeezing it until blood comes out.
Adulthood[]
Coach Steve teaching gym class.
Coach Steve lives a simple, unremarkable life as an adult, yet he couldn’t be happier about it. He lives in an intermodal container in Deep Queens Self Storage, which is constantly being dropped onto a diaper barge and he works as a gym coach at Bridgeton Middle School, where he isn't even given an office. Instead, he has a desk set up under the bleachers. Despite being a fully grown adult, Coach Steve possesses a level of naivety and lack of understanding that makes him appear even more clueless than a child.
Coach Steve first appeared in "Ejaculation", where he taught gym class and later chaperoned at the school dance. It was clear that Coach Steve was disrespected by both students and co-workers, alike. Coach Steve played basketball in the gymnasium and attempted a slam dunk, only to drop to the ground and “ knock the wind out of his balls.” At the school dance, Coach Steve learned that he was the only faculty member who wasn't given the wi-fi password. To add insult to injury, a DJ who only worked with the school for one day got the password and he didn't. Coach Steve sang the song The Lady in Red at the dance.
In "Everybody Bleeds", Coach Steve was a chaperone on the field trip to The Statue of Liberty. There, he admitted that he was illiterate and never went to college, which did not come as a surprise to Mr. Lizer.
In "Am I Gay?", Coach Steve defecated on a number of basketballs and proceeded to rub his eyes, resulting in him getting pink eye
In "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah", Coach Steve was hired to DJ at Jessi's bat mitzvah, as a hasty last-minute final choice, made by Greg. Shannon was very disappointed in her husband for not being able to book a more competent DJ. Coach Steve went by the stage name, "DJ Pendejo" and did a sub-par job, to say the least, with the wrong choice of songs, breaking up dramatic moments with his comic relief, and consistently referencing to The Holocaust, at a Jewish bat mitzvah.
In "The Pornscape", Coach Steve was a chaperone on the school field trip to the Police Station and was wearing a wrestling outfit, having mistaken it for a wrestling match after Matthew pranked him. At the police station, Coach Steve met Detective Florez and Detective Dumont, who were studying the evidence board for the legendary serial killer, The Ponytail Killer. Coach Steve proved to have known a lot about the victims, which quickly made him a lead suspect. The detectives brought Coach Steve in for questioning, and his statements came across as both incriminating and foolish. However, the actual Ponytail Killer committed another murder while Coach Steve was still in the interrogation room, swiftly exonerating him.
In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Steve goes onto an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and gets a full makeover, temporarily improving his appearance. After Terry Lizer gets fired from his job, Steve comes back and asks to be rehired. Principal Barron allows this and offers him Mr. Lizer’s job which pays more than a gym coach, but Steve insisted as remaining a gym coach.
Appearance[]
Coach Steve's new look.
Coach Steve is a Caucasian (White) adult male with black hair. He wears his hair in an afro, similar to Albert Einstein and he has very thick bushy eyebrows and a black mustache, which is described as a "John Oates" mustache. He has brown eyes. Coach Steve is plump and has a pear-shaped body with a hairy chest. He also has long arms and long, unshaven legs. Coach Steve wears a blue jumpsuit with red sleeve collars and a red trim. He wears blue gym pants that appear too small for him that also has a red logo. He also wears white kneesocks with blue stripes, red sneakers with grey soles, and a red bracelet. Lastly, he always wears a silver whistle on a red string as his necklace.
Starting with the episode, "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Coach Steve was given a makeover by The Fab 5 from Queer Eye to make himself look handsome. Coach Steve's makeover consisted of his mustache being shaved and his hair getting styled to be slicked back with hair gel to make him more presentable. Additionally, The Fab 5 all gave Coach Steve a golden whistle on a golden string as a parting gift to remember them by. Coach Steve ditched his old whistle and replaced it with his new one. In The New Me, Coach Steve reverted back to his old look for the rest of the show.
Personality[]
Coach Steve is a deeply naive man with limited education and a profound lack of experience across many areas of basic knowledge. He often appears childlike, possessing the innocence and mentality of a five-year-old, which gives him a unique, if comically misguided, perspective on the world, and a deplorable dearth of sexual knowledge and experience, especially for someone who works as a legally employed teacher of sexual education. Episodes such as "Steve the Virgin" prove that Steve is not only uneducated in all things amatory (proven by comments like "My mommy used to have a guy named Gary who would come to her house and do push-ups on her in bed." and "I would always find yogurt filled balloons by their bed afterward.") but it was also brought to light that he was a virgin. Later on in the episode, he would lose his virginity to Jenna Bilzerian. However, he would still be just as sexually oblivious as he was before, as future episodes such as "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", saw him make comments like "Sometimes in the locker room shower, Mr. Lizer washes his peena so hard that toothpaste comes out." Coach Steve is a static happy guy, who never gets mad or upset about anything, even when put into a situation, where any person would reasonably get at least a little bit annoyed, mostly because he's too naive to understand when he's being wronged for mistreated. In "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah", Matthew, as usual, insulted Coach Steve's character and mocked him for all of his recent mistakes. Coach Steve thanked him and Matthew told him just how astonishing it was that all of his witty zingers had to fall on deaf ears. As he walked away, Coach Steve pointed to him and happily called out, "Right back at ya, my dude!" In "Dark Side of the Boob", Jay angrily told Steve that he hated him. Coach Steve looked like he was about to get mad at first, only to reveal that he was just as stupidly happy as he used to be when he said "Well if you hate me ... then I hate me too because we're the best of friends!" In "Smooch or Share", Coach Steve's complete lack of any negativity, whatsoever was explored by The Shame Wizard, who tried desperately to pick his brain for any traces of shame, but on account of Steve's uncontrollable stupidity, he had absolutely no sense of self-awareness or introspection, making him unable to feel shame for any of his character traits.
Relationships[]
Friends[]
- Jay Bilzerian - Coach Steve becomes friends with Jay in "The Shame Wizard" after Jay is stuck at school, waiting for his mom, who never came to pick him up. Coach Steve invited Jay to play tennis with him to help cheer him up and they had a fun time together. Jay also did something nice for Coach Steve by showing him a magic trick. Coach Steve was delighted when Jay said that he considered Coach Steve a friend as he was arguably the only real friend he's ever had before. In "Steve the Virgin", Coach Steve told Jay that he wanted to have sex with his mom and asked his permission before going for it. Although Jay was skeptical about this at first, he eventually allowed it, actually finding it very amazing that Coach Steve would be having sex with his mom. In "The Planned Parenthood Show", Jay was still pretty embarrassed about the fact that Coach Steve had sex with his mother and visibly tried to keep it a secret from his friends. In "Drug Buddies", Coach Steve informed everyone at the school about what happened and Jay became angry with Coach Steve; Jay yelled at Coach Steve, saying that he hated him. Coach Steve, not understanding that he was being insulted, happily told Jay that if he hates him, than he hates himself too because they're the best of friends. Jay decided to unfriend Steve after this. However, Coach Steve still remained oblivious to this, as future episodes such as "Smooch or Share", saw Coach Steve drawing a picture of himself with all his friends. One of which was Jay, meaning that he still thinks that he and Jay are in a friendship.
- The Shame Wizard - In "Smooch or Share", The Shame Wizard approached Coach Steve, attempting to shame him as he did with all his other targets. However, Coach Steve’s lack of understanding made him incapable of experiencing shame. Despite the Shame Wizard’s increasingly desperate efforts to induce guilt, Coach Steve remained unaffected, responding only with a series of frustratingly naive remarks. Coach Steve mistook The Shame Wizard's name for "The Shane Lizard" and also considered him to be a friend. Coach Steve drew a picture of himself with all his friends and included "The Shane Lizard". The Shame Wizard was deeply touched by Steve's kind gesture, as this was the first time anyone had ever shown kindness to him. The Shame Wizard finally changed his ways, at least around Coach Steve, and started being returning kindness to him, considering him a true friend. In "The Department of Puberty", it was shown that The Shame Wizard was still fond of Coach Steve and still considered him to be a true friend of his, even if he didn't see him all that often anymore.
- Caleb - Coach Steve interacted with Caleb in the episodes "Everybody Bleeds" and "Am I Normal?", likely wanting to make friends with him. Despite Caleb being a friend of Coach Steve's, the latter did not include the former in his drawing of all his friends in "Smooch or Share".
Love Interests[]
- Miss Benitez - In "Requiem for a Wet Dream", Coach Steve falls in love with Miss Benitez, when she teaches him how to read. Coach Steve proposes to her later on, but Miss Benitez politely declines and says, she saw Coach Steve as nothing more than a friend. She told him he should marry someone who is "more like him". In "Dark Side of the Boob", Coach Steve involuntarily assists Miss Benitez in teaching the class about the star constellations. Coach Steve attempts to be helpful and friendly however his naivety frustrates Miss Benitez. Steve would later accidentally knock Miss Benitez unconscious with a whiffle ball bat.
- Jenna Bilzerian - Coach Steve first fell in love with Jenna in "The Shame Wizard" and it was clear that Jenna returned his feelings and willing to have sex with him. Coach Steve was excited to finally "make sex on a lady", but remembered that Jenna was the mother of his newfound friend, Jay. Coach Steve feared that if he had sex with his mom, it would ruin their friendship. In "Steve the Virgin", Coach Steve was honest and accidentally upfront with Jay about wanting to have sex with his mom. Jay, while disturbed by this, understood that if he denied Coach Steve permission to do it, he would be forcing Coach Steve to stay a virgin, so Jay permitted them. While Guy Bilzarian, Jay’s Father and Jenna’s Husband was away at work, Jenna had Coach Steve come over so they could have sex. Coach Steve was initially awkward and nervous when initiating foreplay with Jenna as he was a virgin with no experience. Jenna assumed that Coach Steve was experienced and that he was just role-playing as an "innocent guy" so she played along with him and took on a dominant role. At the end of the episode, Coach Steve came back to go on a date with his new girlfriend but Jay urged him to leave because his dad was back from his business trip, so he had to keep his relationship secret. Coach Steve and Jenna are still in a relationship but because the latter's husband is very present in her life, she and Coach Steve need to avoid communication for a while.
Enemies[]
- Mr. Lizer - During the first two seasons, Mr. Lizer would consistently be very rude and condescending to Coach Steve, insulting and berating him for his naivety. However, Coach Steve was completely oblivious to the fact that Mr. Lizer hated him and still considered him to be a friend, going up to him all the time and driving him crazy by telling him a bunch of stupid stories. In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Coach Steve came back to the school, while Mr. Lizer was in the midst of getting fired. Mr. Lizer said that the school sucked and Coach Steve bravely yelled at him in anger that it does not suck and that he wants his job back. This would be the closest Coach Steve ever came to showing a mutual hatred toward one of the people who hate him.
- Matthew MacDell - Matthew has a one-sided rivalry with Coach Steve since Coach Steve seems to be completely oblivious to Matthew's hatred for him. Matthew also consistently insults Coach Steve for his naivety but Coach Steve is so oblivious that he doesn't understand any of it. This was exemplified in "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah" when Matthew told Coach Steve that he envied his ability to bat away every one of his insults, to which Coach Steve replied with "Right back at ya, my dude!"
Hormone Monsters[]
- Rick - Rick is Coach Steve's hormone monster. Rick represents the puberty of an already full-grown man, making him a fitting match for Coach Steve. Rick also looks similar to Coach Steve with them both having the same hairstyle and coach whistle. Rick acts just as peculiar as Steve. Rick often compliments Coach Steve, by saying "You the man, baby." whenever he does something he deems right. Aside from this, however, Rick seems to give absolutely no meaningful advice or moral guidance to Coach Steve, (unlike other hormone monsters), which leads Coach Steve to continue being a misguided man, who will never change. In "Steve the Virgin", Rick told Steve that he would be leaving him for good. After Steve finally "made sex on a lady", Rick's work was done and there was nothing else he could teach him. Rick and Steve parted ways and Coach Steve was finally on his own, as a slightly less uneducated man.
Family[]
Very little is known about Coach Steve's family, as none of his family members have appeared on the show. However, he has mentioned his parents occasionally in dialogue.
- Mom - Coach Steve has made numerous comments, that suggest that his mom is an adulterer in "Steve the Virgin", claiming that when he was a child, his mom used to have a guy named Gary who would come to the house, while his dad was away and "do push-ups" on her in bed (sex) and he noticed tons of "yogurt filled balloons" all over the floor (semen filled condoms). To this day, he still has no idea what was really happening. It can be implied that she is still alive, but very old and close to death because in "Everybody Bleeds", Coach Steve mentioned that she is dating her hospice nurse. In "Steve the Virgin", Coach Steve briefly mentioned his mother to Jay, when the latter was complaining about how his own mom was neglectful to him. Coach Steve didn't really mention anything important as all he did was say how his mom used to feed him when he was younger.
- Dad - In "The Pornscape", Coach Steve said that his father was buried in a pet cemetery, which means that his father is dead and also implies that his father is someone with a very weird burial plot, that his burial was done very cheaply and hurriedly by uncaring family members, or he was someone who was seen as so barbaric and uncivilized that people felt the need to bury him in a graveyard for animals. In "Steve the Virgin", it was revealed that Steve's mom had an affair on Steve's dad with a guy named Gary, while Steve’s Dad was away at work.
- Siblings - It is unknown if Coach Steve has any siblings, but it's obvious that he does have some backwards, unhealthy views on the concept of blood-related relatives. In "Drug Buddies", Coach Steve saw Andrew and Lola making out and asked, "If they're not brother and sister, then why are they making smoochies with each other?" This would imply that Coach Steve does not understand the concept of inbreeding. Another reason for this is that his parents could have been brother and sister, explaining his intellectual and developmental disabilities
Other[]
- Jessi Glaser - Jessi shows compassion towards Coach Steve. In "Everybody Bleeds", Coach Steve mistakenly bought Jessi a bag of marshmallows, thinking they were tampons. Instead of getting frustrated at his mistake, Jessi thanked Coach Steve for his kind gesture. In "Girls Are Horny Too", Coach Steve encountered Jessi at the mall after she bought a bra and he talked to her about Dippin Dots. In "My Furry Valentine", Jessi told Coach Steve that even he deserved to find love on Valentine's Day.
Illiteracy[]
It's been brought up multiple times throughout the series that Coach Steve doesn't know how to read.
Coach Steve's illiteracy was first mentioned in "Everybody Bleeds" when he sadly admitted this to Mr. Lizer.
In "Requiem for a Wet Dream", Miss Benitez diagnosed Coach Steve with a learning disability, explaining his lack of ability to read. Having a brother with a learning or intellectual disability, she thought it was her place to help teach him how to read. Coach Steve didn't know the names of any of the letters but he did come up with his own names for the letter, based on what they looked like. For instance: "C" was "Sideways Moon" because it looked like a crescent on its side and "O" was "Coffee Stain" because it looked like the ring-shaped stain that's left behind by a cup when it is left on a surface and the bottom is wet.
In "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah", Coach Steve joked that he may not know how to read but he does know how to read a room. This was untrue however, as he also struggled reading social cues.
In "The ASSes", Coach Steve referred to The Academic Skill Surveys (often abbreviated to "The ASSes") as "The Teepee Snake Snakes", which reveals that he refers the letter "S" as "Snake" because it looks like a snake.
Alphabet[]
Coach Steve being illiterate doesn't know the names of the letters of the alphabet. So, he's come up with his own names for them, based on what they look like. Although his entire alphabet is currently unknown, in "Requiem for a Wet Dream" and "The ASSes", we get some insight to what some of his names for the letters are.
- A = Teepee
- B = Fat Guy
- C = Sideways Moon
- D = Other Fat Guy
- E = Sideways Comb
- F = ???
- G = ???
- H = ???
- I = ???
- J = ???
- K = ???
- L = Hockey Stick
- M = ???
- N = ???
- O = Coffee Stain
- P = ???
- Q = ???
- R = ???
- S = Snake
- T = ???
- U = ???
- V = Watercooler Cup
- W = ???
- X = ???
- Y = ???
- Z = ???
Sexual Inexperience[]
Despite working as a sex-ed teacher, Coach Steve is unqualified for the job because he does not possess basic knowledge of human reproduction.
In "Steve the Virgin", Coach Steve lost his virginity to Jenna Bilzerian.
In "The Planned Parenthood Show", Coach Steve taught a sex-ed class and despite having previously had sex in the aforementioned episode, he was still completely uneducated in the field and the kids had learned more from each other about safe sex and abortion than they did from him.
In "Poop Madness", Coach Steve had sex with Jenna again, while Guy was away, which means that he and Jenna most likely have sex on a regular basis.
Employment History[]
Coach Steve's primary job is working as a gym coach at Bridgeton Middle School, which was his job up until the Season 2 finale episode "The Department of Puberty", where he got fired for leaving the students unattended at the lock-in, leading to them all getting out of control and lighting the gym on fire.
Following his job termination at Bridgeton, Coach Steve went through a series of different jobs in the following episodes, getting fired from each one of them by the next episode. With every new job, Coach Steve would change his name to suit his new career. Not by replacing "Coach" with the name of his job, but instead by putting the name of his job before his name, putting it in-between "Coach" and "Steve", or wording his job description in other grammatically incorrect ways.
In "My Furry Valentine", (the first episode after Coach Steve got fired), Coach Steve got a new job working as a Walgreens greeter, a parody on the non-existent job of a "greeter", which is something that only exists for Walmart. At his job, Coach Steve took a bunch of products for Valentine's Day and built a girl named Reese's Werther's-spoons out of it. While working his job, he went by "Walgreens Greeter Coach Steve". He would eventually get fired from his job for unspecified reasons.
In "Girls Are Angry Too", Coach Steve became a mannequin at the Westchester Uniform Store, which meant that he was supposed to act like a mannequin and stay still. Apparently, this affected his actual essence as he was able to take his own arm off as though it was a mannequin arm. Working this job, he went by the name "Coach Mannequin Steve".
In "Cellsea", Coach Steve works as a party caterer for Elegant Occasions Catering, a business run by Raccoons and went by the name "Coach Part-Time Caterer Steve". Coach Steve breaks the fourth wall to mention how he's caught on to the theme of being given a new job every episode.
In "Obsessed", Coach Steve worked as a YouTuber, who made instructional "how-to" videos.
In "Florida", Coach Steve worked as a cashier at Cheap Gas and charged people high-fives for products instead of money, to which he subsequently got fired. That, and the fact that the gas station blew up. He went by the name "North Carolina Gas Station Attendant Coach Steve". Not much was explored about this job because Marty got sick of listening to the Coach Steve bit and hurried things along.
In "How To Have An Orgasm", Coach Steve only appeared in Jessi's imagination as a monkey.
In "Duke", Coach Steve only appeared as Theodore Roosevelt in Duke's flashback and went by "Coach President Teddy Roosevelt Steve".
In "Rankings", Coach Steve worked at an entertainment agency for dancers but at Devin's Bachelorette Party, he misheard the job title, and instead of working as an "erotic dancer," he worked as an "aerobic hamster".
In "The ASSes", Coach Steve worked as a Lyft driver and went by the name "Coach Lyft Driver Cautionary Tale to Nick Steve". The "Cautionary Tale to Nick" part of his name might have come from the fact that at this point in the episode, Nick was failing his ASS test, making Coach Steve's job somewhat of a warning to Nick that if he doesn't pass his test, he'll end up like him in the future.
In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Coach Steve got a makeover and went back to Bridgeton Middle School to demand to be rehired. Impressed with his recovery, Principal Barron proudly rehired him and even offered to give him a better paying job as an actual teacher. However, Coach Steve insisted on becoming a gym teacher again and got just that. Since then, Coach Steve has been working as a gym coach at Bridgeton Middle School once again, just like old times.
In “Pillow Talk” Coach Steve works as a busboy at the Patrick Ewing Brewing Company, where his co-workers gave him his nickname “Pendejo”
Trivia[]
- Coach Steve is partly based on "Ref Jeff" from The Nick Kroll Show, another dim-witted gym coach, who tries and fails to make friends, also played by Nick Kroll.
- Coach Steve has, in one way or the other, appeared in every episode of the series except for "The Hugest Period Ever", "Four Stories About Hand Stuff", "The Funeral", "Thanksgiving", and "Sugarbush".
- Coach Steve is illiterate.
- Coach Steve is medically classified as a "man-baby". Although not much is explained about what exactly a "man-baby" is, the name alone is pretty indicative that it's exactly what it sounds like and this description fits him very well and would explain a lot of his naivety.
- Coach Steve refers to his penis as weird terms along the lines of his "peanut", "peena", and "peener".
- Coach Steve works a second job as a DJ, where he goes under the pseudonym "DJ Pendejo". He brought this into action in the episodes "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah" and "Guy Town".
- In Spanish "Pendejo" is a derogatory term for "Stupid". He gets this name from the insult people call him when he pretends to work at Patrick Ewing Brewing Company, as seen in "Pillow Talk".
- In "Requiem for a Wet Dream", Coach Steve said that he's been fooled into losing kidneys multiple times.
- In "The Head Push", it was revealed that Coach Steve tried to become a Scientologist once, but was "rejected" from the religion for being too naive for them.
- In "The Pornscape", Coach Steve revealed that he was born on September 11th.
- Coach Steve is deathly lactose intolerance, as revealed in "Am I Normal?", wherein dairy products lead to vomiting and even death.
- Coach Steve got very sick three times in that episode from dairy consumption, even to the point of near-death, yet somehow managed to come back after every time.
- Coach Steve lost his virginity to Jenna Bilzerian in "Steve the Virgin". This led to Rick leaving him as his hormone monster since because of Steve officially becoming an "adult", which is only true if used very loosely in a metaphorical sense, there was no need for Rick to help him anymore.
- That episode also taught us that his mother used to have sex with a guy named "Gary", while his dad was away. Coach Steve was unaware of what was happening as he thought that Gary was just doing push-ups on his mommy and leaving yogurt balloons behind.
- In the same episode, he also revealed that he was born with eyeballs on his penis, which were surgically removed when he was 4 years old.
- In "The Department of Puberty", he claims to have traveled to LaGuardia using only marbles as transportation.
- In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", it was revealed that his first and last name were both "Steve", making his full name "Steve Steve".
- One of Coach Steve's favorite snacks is eating napkins.