Danny, thansk for the detailed reply. That's pretty much how I remember it too, except I don't remember them explicitly saying Coach was dead, but maybe they did.
/Mike
Steve, are you sure Sam said that "Coach died"? For some reason, I can't rememeber them ever mentioning anything about his death, just that Woody replaced him. But I might of course be wrong! :)
/Mike
I don't think he was ever really written out of the show. He was always just visiting relatives or running errands, until his friend Woody replaced him at the bar.
/Mike