| “ | You're not prepared!
|
„ |
| ― Coach Molinaro |
Coach Molinaro is a minor character on The Sopranos. He is Tony Soprano's high school football coach, and years after dropping out, Tony still dreams about him as a manifestation of his deepest fears and insecurities. He is portrayed by Charley Scalies.
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Biography[]
Background[]
Tony: "He wasn't such a bad guy!"
Carmela: "A bad guy? No, he actually took an interest in you."
—Tony and Carmela[src]
Coach Molinaro was a high school football instructor in Newark, New Jersey in the 1970s, and he trained Tony and all his friends, including Artie Bucco. Through dialogue, it is discerned Molinaro held a deep interest in Tony, and always strived to point him in a path to greatness, hopefully in a coaching position, which Tony had commented he wanted to be. This came with attempting to distance Tony from his crew of young hoodlum friends, which at the time included Artie, since he felt they were a bad influence and Tony would ultimately be absorbed by them. It is unknown what became of Coach Molinaro, whether he retired or he continued to coach by the series' time.[1]
Season 5[]
| “ | You'll never shut me up!
|
„ |
| ― Coach Molinaro to Tony in his dream |
While staying at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, Tony gets news that his cousin Tony B's prison pal Angelo Garepe was killed by the Leotardo brothers on Johnny Sack's orders. Knowing his cousin's unpredictability and unstable nature, he fears what he will do next, and has a series of surrealist dreams in which he is told by the people in his life that he needs to "do the job", or kill his cousin to prevent him from triggering a war with New York.[1]
Tony goes through numerous stages of the dream, and eventually arrives at a place resembling his former high school locker room. As he stealthily walks through the locker-filled hallways, he sees Coach Molinaro in his office. Tony worriedly points his silenced gun at him and is about to shoot, but Coach Molinaro yells at him, telling him he knows of his presence, and that if he's gonna do something to him, then he better do it. Tony then lowers his pistol and approaches the coach, asking him how he is doing. Coach Molinaro replies he's fine, noting Tony's armed and asking him if that's "a bigger dingus than the one God gave ya" before insulting him. Tony counters he should show more respect since he's no kid anymore, but Coach Molinaro disagrees. He then laments that Tony never listened when he advised him to stay away from those "bums" he hung out with. Tony then states he's in therapy, which Coach Molinaro says is a shame. He further states that he always said Tony ought to leave behind Artie, who was the "worst of the bunch". When Tony replies Artie now owns a successful restaurant, Coach Molinaro says he must be the exception to the rule. Tony responds aggresively, but Molinaro keeps putting him down, telling him he's probably got his therapist on his pocket and likely blames his parents during sessions. Getting up from his chair, he scolds Tony, telling him he always thought he'd take "the easy way out".[1]
Coach Molinaro torments Tony in his dream.
Coach Molinaro goes on to say that he frequently sees Tony on TV on the Five O' Clock News, which Tony takes as a point of pride in that he doesn't owe or has to apologize to Molinaro for anything. He further declares that he is a leader, a moneymaker with a luxurious house and a family man with a wife and two children. When Coach Molinaro questions if he really does have a wife, Tony confirms that he does, and that she's got a comfortable life thanks to his success. Ignoring his self-aggrandizing, Coach Molinaro tells him he knows his "little secret" (his childhood desire to be a coach), but Tony replies that he only told him that because he was manipulating him since "that's what I do with people". Molinaro vilifies Tony, bluntly saying that he could have had great potential to be a trainer and now he lives in constant stress. Not wanting to hear any more of his critiscisms, Tony points his gun at Molinaro, but the coach stands in front of it, amused and grinning. When he pulls the trigger, the clip falls off and all the bullets scatter on the ground. Tony hurriedly scrambles on the floor trying to pick them up, but as he does, they turn into feces in his hands. Coach Molinaro stands above Tony, pointing at him and telling him he'll never shut him up. At that point, Tony wakes up.[1]
After getting news that his cousin killed Billy Leotardo in revenge for Angelo, Tony goes back to bed and chats with Carmela over the phone. He tells her he just had "another one of my Coach Molinaro dreams", and she asks if, "as usual", he was "unprepared", which Tony affirms. Carmela then goes on to wonder where Molinaro may be now, with Tony noting that he wasn't such a bad guy. Carmela agrees, and tells him he took an interest in him, but Tony dissents and says that that was likely just his way to keep him from causing trouble.[1] Later, when Tony is conflicted over what he ought to do with regards to his cousin, who is now in hiding, he mentions to Dr. Melfi during a therapy session that he recently had a dream about Molinaro, but neglects to say how the coach was critical of him in it.[2]
Personality[]
From what can be deciphered from Tony's dreams and conversations about Molinaro, he seemed like a strict but fair teacher, looking for the talent in his students like he did with Tony and trying to assure they would have a bright future. He apparently had an eye for people, seeing past them and noticing their conniving or toxic traits, as Tony dreams about him pointing out all of his flaws, which, in some respect, reflects Tony's own internal thoughts about himself.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "The Test Dream"
- ↑ "All Due Respect"