| ā | Coach Finstock: "There he is. Look at that. The humility. The grace. Sure, that wasn't lacrosse we played out there tonight-- that was la-crap! But you... You stayed on the field while the rest of these losers ran inside!" Liam: "Coach, we lost. We lost everything." Coach Finstock: "Listen to the despair, the rage simmering underneath it. See that, people? He still thinks he can win. That's why next time, he will win. Because he will find a way. Now, show your new team captain some love, you pukes!" |
ā |
ā Bobby Finstock and Liam Dunbar in Relics
| ||
Bobby Finstock, commonly known as Coach Finstock, is a supporting character on Teen Wolf. He was first introduced as the zany, slightly rude teacher and lacrosse coach at Beacon Hills High School. Throughout the series, Coach has served as comic relief through his constant teasing of his students, though he has also been victim to the various supernatural events as well, such as when he was accidentally shot in the stomach with an arrow after stepping in a trap set by the Nogitsune/Stiles Stilinski, or when he was infected by the modified canine distemper virus during the Deadpool assassination attempts. It has been implied on several occasions that Coach has an alcohol problem, and he apparently took time off from work recently to return to rehab.
Bobby is an Economics and Introduction to Business teacher at Beacon Hills High School and is also the coach for both the boy's lacrosse team and boy's and girl's cross-country teams.
Early life[]
Virtually nothing is known about Bobby's life prior to his introduction to the series, aside from a few details that have been mentioned throughout the seasons. For example, according to Natalie Martin, he has suffered from alcoholism for decades, and at one point managed to stay sober for roughly fifteen years before checking himself into rehab in early 2012. ("Weaponized"), ("A Credible Threat") He also claims to have lost a testicle due to exposure/hypothermia from running around naked at some point during his life, though what he was doing and when this occurred has yet to be revealed. ("Omega") It has been implied that he had history with the sadistic Eichen House orderly Brunski, though this relationship also remains a mystery. ("The Fox and the Wolf")
Throughout Teen Wolf[]
In Wolf Moon, Coach informed Scott McCall that he would be playing goalie during lacrosse tryouts, even after Scott reminded him that he had never played that position, as Coach believed it would build up the team's confidence by allowing them to score a few easy goals. When Scott asked about himself, Coach simply instructed him to try not to take any face shots. Coach went on to laugh as Scott failed miserably at goalie, during which time he was hit in the ace and knocked to the ground from several shots, but at the end, he was able to catch an especially difficult shot as a result of his newly activated werewolf powers, shocking Coach in the process.
Afterward, the lacrosse players gathered around the Coach, who told them that if they didn't make the cut for first line, they would be sitting on the bench for the rest of the season. Jackson Whittemore, feeling jealous of the attention Scott was getting as a result of his newly displayed athleticism, decided to gun for him on the field by knocking him down and purposely angering him, which led Scott to give his position a second chance. After Scott weaved through and around the other players and flipped over the back of another to make a goal, Coach called Scott over and demanded to know what he thought he was doing with gymnastic moves like that on the lacrosse field. However, when Scott insisted he was just trying to make the shot, Coach smiled at him and informed him that he had made first line.
In Second Chance at First Line, during practice, Coach had Jackson take a long stick before ordering Greenberg to take a lap. Jackson noticed Scott was preoccupied with other problems and thus unfocused, giving him the opportunity to slam Scott to the ground with great impact. Rather than scold Jackson, Coach taunted Scott as well, snarkily stating, "My grandmother can move faster than that, and she's dead. Do you think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?" These taunts ultimately caused Scott's rage to get out of control, and he brutally tackled Jackson, badly injuring the human's shoulder before Scott began to transform on the field. This forced his best friend Stiles Stilinski to grab him and pull him into the boys locker room before anyone else could see him, where Scott almost mauled Stiles to death with Coach and the rest of the team none the wiser.
Later on in the school day, Scott, still rattled by his unintentional transformation during morning practice, approached Coach and grimly informed him that he wouldn't be able to play in the upcoming game. Unfortunately for Scott, Coach immediately replied that this was unacceptable and that he would absolutely be playing, not understanding the gravity of the situation. When Scott explained that he's having "personal problems," Coach asked if it had to do with a girl, or maybe even a guy, adding that their team's goalie, Danny Mahealani, was gay and suggesting that perhaps he could help Scott with his problem. Scott, uncomfortable with this conversation, insisted that his love life had nothing to do with it, leading Coach to then ask him if he had been doing methamphetamines, which caused him to go on a tangent about his brother, who had been using meth, which ultimately rotted his teeth.
Still not allowing Scott to get a word in edge-wise, Coach then wondered aloud if Scott's afraid of getting hurt, but Scott, unable to get out of the conversation, finally admitted that it had to do with a problem with his aggression. Coach was thrilled to hear this, as he believed lacrosse's purpose was to allow the players to unleash their anger and aggression on the opposing team, but when Scott maintained that he was still not able to play in the upcoming game, Coach became serious and gave him an ultimatumāhe would either play in the game, or he would be kicked off first line and returned to the bench. Unwilling to lose his spot on the team after going through so much to get there, Scott ultimately went capitulated to Coach and Lydia Martin's threats (the latter promising to introduce Allison Argent to all of the hot lacrosse players if he backs out of the game) and against Stiles' warning (and Derek Hale's death threats due to fear that Scott would expose the Werewolves to the human population) and decided he would play in the game.
As the game is about to start, Coach sat down on the bench next to Jackson to get an update on the condition of Jackson's arm after having his shoulder dislocated by Scott the previous day. Jackson, unwilling to show weakness during a time where everyone was seemingly obsessed with Scott, insisted that he didn't feel any pain, though he looked uncomfortable when Coach asked him if it would hurt if he gave him a "big ol' punch." Coach then encouraged Jackson to power through any pain he may feel during the game to ensure that they win. Once the game began, Coach became incredibly impressed by Scott's performance, particularly when Scott (who had secretly and briefly began to turn on the field) growled so menacingly that he scared the opposing player into giving him the ball. Coach was ecstatic when the Cyclones ultimately won their game against the Timberwolves.
In The Tell, Coach, as a teacher, was one of the hosts of the parent-teacher conference and had just met with Noah Stilinski about his son Stiles Stilinski's performance thus far. He was momentarily distracted by the task at hand when he realized that "Stiles" wasn't his last name (causing a sidebar during which Coach admitted to enjoy being called "cupcake"), and when he asked Stilinski what his son's first name was, Stilinski just gave him a look and tapped his finger on the folder in front of him. Upon reading the text, Coach's jaw dropped as he accused Stilinski of child abuse for giving his son that name, though the audience is not privy to what it is; Stilinski simply stated that it was his wife's father's name before turning Coach's attention back to the reason why they were thereāthe conference about Stiles' school performance.
Coach immediately checked his notes and got to the point, complimenting Stiles for being a "great kid" who was "super smart" before then bringing up the fact that he had "zero ability to focus" and tended to not take advantage of his talents. Stilinski frowned and asked him what he meant, and Coach shared a recent, somewhat embarrassing event involving Stiles: for the final question on his midterm exam, Stiles detailed the entire history of male circumcision. Stilinski warily wondered if this didn't just have some historical significance to the question, but when Coach reminded him that he taught Economics, Stilinski groaned, realizing that his son was just as weird as Coach was implying.
In Heart Monitor, without Coach noticing, Stiles managed to steal Coach's cell phone and heart rate monitor as part of his plan to train Scott to control his Werewolf transformations, believing that they were triggered by increased pulse and heightened emotions such as anger. Scott wore the heart monitor while having his hands tied behind his back and while Stiles pelted him with lacrosse balls to trigger a transformation, and their hypothesis that the transformation would reverse itself when the Werewolf's heart rate slowed down was ultimately proven to be true, leading Stiles to instruct Scott to wear the monitor for the rest of the day so he could keep track of his pulse spikes.
During one of the last periods of the school day, Coach was teaching his sophomore level Economics class, where he asked for a student to give a summary of the previous night's reading. He ultimately called on Scott for this task, but Scott, overwhelmed with his current double-life, didn't have time to read it. Displeased, Coach first mocked him for not understanding sarcasm before revealing to the class that he would be unable to stay on the lacrosse team with his current grade of a D in the class.
He went on to then antagonize Scott further by asking if he could summarize the previous night's reading, or the night before that, or even anything he had read in his entire life. Stiles became alarmed when Scott's heart rate started to climb higher and higher, but after a moment, it dropped off suddenly, leaving Stiles both confused and relieved. When he looked over at Scott, he noticed that Allison, who was sitting behind him, had begun to hold his hand, which calmed him down and prevented him from wolfing-out in front of the entire class.
In Lunatic, due to the a pink-eye epidemic occurring across the team, Coach informed them all that some players will be bumped to first-line on a probationary basis. He went on to call out the names of the players who would be promoted, beginning with Rodriquez and Taylor; however, when he got to the final name, he complained that he couldn't read his own writing before calling out "Bilinski," not realizing he was actually talking about Stiles Stilinski. Stiles excitedly jumped to his feet in excitement and joy for being promoted, but Coach immediately told him to shut up, much to the amusement of the rest of the team.
Coach went on to announce that the team would be switching to co-captains before naming Scott as the captain joining Jackson im leading the team. Jackson was instantly furious about having to share his captain status with his rival, but Coach explained that he wasn't taking anything away from him, but instead helping to unite the team by merging the strengths of both Jackson and Scott in hopes of making the team better.
At practice, Jackson made a point of going after Scott once again, and though Coach was aware of this, he knew it was a status issue and didn't interfere, instead letting the two teens work it out themselves. Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Scott was under the influence of the effects of the full moon that would be rising that evening and was not only experiencing heightened irritability and aggression, but he was also having a harder time controlling it. This ended up becoming a problem when Scott decided to give back what he was getting from Jackson and accidentally hitting Danny so hard in the face it broke his nose, causing Coach and the rest of the team to rush over to see if he was okay.
In Wolf's Bane, the lacrosse game was about to start, and Coach anxiously approached Scott to demand to know where Stiles (who was with Derek Hale trying to figure out the identity of the Alpha Werewolf), reminding him that Stiles was now on first line, too. When Scott stated he didn't know, Coach replied that there would be "no 'A' in Econ. if no win on field!," poorly implying that he would not be giving anyone "A's" in his Economics class if they performed badly, despite the fact that the word "economics" does not have an "A" in it.
In Formality, In the locker room, Coach tells McCall that he will not be attending the formal due to his grades, he's failing 3 classes. Coach further explains that Scott should have been cut from the team, but he told them he'd sooner cut off his last remaining testicle than cut the best player on the team. Scott not being allowed to go to the formal is the compromise for his failing his classes while remaining on the team. Scott says that he quits the team in a desperate attempt to attend the dance but the Coach just laughs. At the formal, he sees that McCall has snuck into the event, Coach yells at him from across the gym, Coach chases him down but Scott tries to hide throughout the crowd. When Coach finally catches up to Scott, he finds him dancing with Danny, it suddenly appears as if he's yelling at them for being gay, The music stops, and the students stares. Coach begins nervously laughing, he tells everyone to start dancing again.In Omega, Coach Finstock informs the team that Lydia Martin in in the woods, naked and cold, he reminds them that its one of the coldest nights of the year. He relates this situation to an incident in his past in which he lost a testicle to exposure. Coach offers an automatic A to anyone who finds the Lydia. The entire team goes to signs up.
In Shape Shifted, In the locker room, Stiles opens his locker and a long length of metal chain falls out out, clanging against the ground more several seconds, this grabs the entire locker room's attention. Coach walks over to Stiles saying that he doesn't even want to know what he plans on doing with the chain, before walking away.
In Ice Pick, Coach also teaches gym class, the students have been instructed to climbing a rock wall, starting with Allison and Scott. Due to his werewolf abilities, Scott surpasses Allison with ease, so she kicks Scott off causing him to drop down to a foot above the mat as the harness prevents him from hitting the ground. Coach approaches laughing, telling Scott that his pain brings Coach a special kind of joy, Stiles and Erica Reyes are up next, she struggles up the wall as Stiles completes it rather quickly. Erica begins to crying and hyperventilating Coach becomes worried after learning from Allison that she's epileptic, now aware of this, Coach insists that she just let go, allowing the harness bring her back down safely. After the incident, Coach instructs the team to tell someone if they see Isaac Lahey around the school as the authorities are searching for him.
In Abomination, Coach is seen putting a disoriented Danny back in the game despite the fact that he is clearly out of it, he was unable to tell Coach how many fingers her had up. However, Coach still needs one more player or they forfeit the game, so he looks around, noticing Boyd in the stands, Coach calls him down to play for the team. During the game, a player from the rival team runs down Scott with great power, breaking Scott's leg, but he's heals before everyone could reach. Everyone agrees that they thought they heard bone breaking, Coach says he felt it.
In Venomous, while teaching Econ, Coach announces that some of them might want to form study groups for tomorrow's midterm as it'll be a tough one. Scott, Stiles and Jackson aren't paying attention as they're having their own discussion, Coach notices this, shouting at Jackson, wondering if he has something he would like to share with the rest of the class. Jackson compliments Coach, sharing with the class his undying admiration of him, Coach tells him to shut up. Lydia is called up to the board to solve a problem, while in a crying and in a trance, "she writes help me" backwards on the board. Coach snaps her out of the trance and instructs her to sit down, confused by what she wrote. As Scott runs past the locker room, Coach stops him, demanding to know why the lacrosse gear is damaged, it was Danny's gear under that was found under the bleachers, Coach tells him to make sure Danny takes care of his equipment or Scott will be responsible for it as Co-Captain, saying to Scott, "Do you want to be responsible for taking care of Danny's equipment all the time?" Scott says "That depends, are we still talking about lacrosse pads?"
In Raving, Coach enters the locker room demanding to know the whereabouts of Jackson and why he missed practice. Coach asks Stiles directly where Jackson is, Stiles says that he hasn't seen him since the last time he saw him. Coach asks when was that, Stiles replies "the last time I saw him? Definitely the time I saw him last." Coach is done talking to him and moves on to Danny, instructing him to tell Jackson that he's not allowed to miss practice this close to the championship.
In Battlefield, Coach gives a motivational speech to the team as the game approaches. Melissa McCall enters the locker room just as it begins, she's confused as she's sure that the speech he's giving is very familiar. Stiles reminds her that it's the speech from "Independence Day", Coach's favorite movie. He doesn't know any sports speeches?, Melissa says, Stiles replies, I don't think he cares. As the speech ends, Gerard enters, telling them that he thinks they'll do well even with only one co-captain leading them on the field, Scott and Stiles look at each other in confusion.
Before they lave the locker room, Scott hurries to Coach, wondering if he's been benched, to which Coach responds that he has, but it wasn't his decision, Scott's failing three classes and therefore can't play. At the field, Coach tells Scott and Stiles to shut up because the game hasn't even started as they discuss how they're losing, however, Coach is unaware they aren't talking about the game, but the supernatural threat they're currently facing. He orders Stiles to put on his helmet and get on the field because he's switching for Greenberg, Stiles is thrilled that he'll be playing, Coach explains that they both suck but Stiles sucks slightly less. Scott tries to get up but Coach won't allow him to, then Isaac arrives at the game, explaining that he came to win. Isaac takes down several members on his own team, forcing the guys from the bench into the game, including Scott as Coach ran out of players.
In Master Plan, after the death of Jackson and the kidnapping of Stiles, Coach approaches Isaac and Scott in the locker room, he pleads with Scott to get his grades up or else he can't play. He then says that he's aware of all the constant yelling he does but that doesn't mean he hates them. Except for Greenberg.In Chaos Rising, Coach is teaching Econ, he asks about the two principles of the stock market, he is utterly shocked when McCall actually has the correct answer, which is risk and reward. Coach asks around the class for a quarter, Stiles goes into his pocket for a quarter, when he pulls his hand out, the condom from the previous night that was still in his pocket comes flying out. Coach picks it up, noticing the size, he congratulates Stiles and leaves with the quarter, he uses the old drinking game known as "Quarters" to explain the principal of risk and reward. If they take the risk and successfully land the quarter in the cup then they won't have to take a pop quiz, Stiles decides to take the risk, as he is about to play, Sheriff Stilinski enters, needing to talk to Stiles about his friend, Heather.
In Unleashed, Coach is coaching the Cross Country team, he's taken them to the old dirt track. After they begin to run the track, a girl screams, a group of students have surrounded the area, a bead boy's body was found tied to a tree. Coach assumes that it was likely just a homeless kid, Scott informs him that the kid's name was Kyle and he was a student at the school. As Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies arrive, he helps clear away the students.
In Frayed, the cross country team is on a school bus to a meet, Coach is talking a student named Jared, who apparently gets carsick every time they're on a bus, Coach request that he holds it together. As time progresses, Jared is looking worse and worse, to make the situation even worse, they are stuck in traffic. Coach announces that nothing is stopping them from making this meet. Stiles gets out his seat, approaching Coach to suggest that they get off at the next exit to wait out the traffic, but Coach refuses to do so. Resulting in a loud and agitating discussion to which he blows his whistle in Stiles' face several times until he finally sits back down.
Stiles refuses to accept defeat, unknown to Coach, Scott is injured and Stiles needs to get him off the bus, so he figures out a way to solve his dilemma. Stiles goes over to Jared, sitting next to him with a menacing smile, apparently, Stiles forced Jared to puke, which lead to Coach finally agreeing to pull the bus over. While at the stop, he attempts to break up a fight between Isaac and Ethan but Scott manages to end it. After the bus is cleaned, Coach beins to load the students back on.
In Motel California, the cross country team pulls up to a motel named the Glen Capri Motel. The meet has been postponed until the next day, so they need a place to stay until then, he tells the team to pick a partner to share a room with, but he makes it clear that there will be no have no sexual perversions from them, they need to keep their dirty little hands to themselves. The next morning, Coach gets on the bus to find Scott, Stiles, Allison, Lydia, Isaac and Boyd are all already on the bus, he wonder what the hell happened but the drops the question, announcing that the meet has been cancelled. It is then that Lydia notices a dark colored stain on Coach's shirt, right below his whistle, Lydia grabs the whistle from around his neck, she blows into her had, dispencering Wolfsbane into it, thus revealing how the werewolves got poisoned. Every time the Coach blew the whistle on the bus the wolfsbane was released into the air, Stiles then grabs the whistle and throws it out the window just as the bus drives off. In Anchors,
| Note: This section is a stub. You can help Teen Wolf Wiki by expanding it. |
In Galvanize,
In Illuminated,
In Letharia Vulpina,
In Insatiable,
In The Divine Move,In A Credible Threat, Scott and Stiles, who were desperate to get their lacrosse game cancelled to prevent those in attendance from being harmed or killed by the Beast of Gevaudan, went to Stepping Stones Rehabilitation Center where Bobby was receiving treatment for his alcoholism. Bobby immediately began messing with them by pretending as though he was catatonic, but when Stiles was about to move one of the checkers on the board on the table in front of him, he revealed that he was, in fact, awake and aware by stopping him, informing him that he had Nurse Gonzales "by the balls" in the last moves of the game.
Scott and Stiles wasted no time calling Bobby out for not really needing to be in rehab, but Bobby insisted that he had a debilitating case of alcoholism before quietly admitting that he had been taking advantage of his "phenomenal health insurance" by faking having relapses so he could stay in the center and remain safe from the supernatural threats of Beacon Hills. Despite this, the boys insisted that they needed him to come back and coach the charity lacrosse game, which Bobby instantly declined with a scoff, insisting that charity games were pointless. However, Scott informed him that he didn't even have to coach the game, since they only needed him to come back so he could cancel, Bobby ultimately agreed to their offer.
Unfortunately for Scott and Stiles, bringing Bobby back into the fold didn't work out as they planned, as evidenced when Stiles approached him to remind him to cancel the game, only for Bobby to reply that he had never forfeited a game before and never would. Bobby then blew his whistle and ordered the players out onto the field, where the team, including Scott, Stiles, Kira, and Liam were forced to play despite their fear of the Beast's arrival. When Kira was overcome by her Kitsune spirit and began to act violently toward both the Devenford Prep students and her own teammates, Coach winced sympathetically and remarked that she was "damn serious" about charity. At the end of the game, when the Dread Doctors manipulated the frequencies of the local TV news broadcast vans in order to trigger the Beast's transformation, the sound caused Coach to frantically cover his ears before muttering that he should have stayed in rehab under his breath.In Superposition, Coach is seen telling the lacrosse team the position of Captain is now open due to Scott graduating soon. Liam tries to prove himself but due to holding back his werewolf powers, he is flattened. Coach later listens on Scott's speech to Liam and is impressed.
In Relics,
In Said the Spider to the Fly,
In The Wolves of War,Personality[]
Coach Finstock is profoundly eccentric, and is often seen shouting at an always unseen lacrosse player named Greenberg, who may or not be real according to the behind the scenes interviews. Coach is usually verbally aggressive towards his students, but he does this to motivate them and push themselves harder; he admits he doesn't hold any hatred towards anyone in his class, except for Greenberg, which he justifies by simply saying "because it's Greenberg."
Coach Finstock had shown himself to stand up for those who are vulnerable, demonstrated when he tasered an orderly who threatened Meredith, though he also showed a lack of tact and political correctness when he referred to her as a "nuthouse" patient. He has also demonstrated compassion and care toward his students, such as when he once humorously referred to Scott and Stiles as being like sons to him, though whether or not he was being serious is unknown; either way, he does seem somewhat fond of them given how he tolerates their strange behavior, and he frequently talks to Stiles whenever he is on the bench.
Coach Finstock is also one of few staff at the school that is currently unaffected by the terror and paranoia caused by the Anuk-ite, as he was only one who came to the aid of Liam who was being beaten in front of a crowd who were not doing anything to stop it, as even one of the other teachers turned a blind eye to the attack. After helping Liam, Finstock was disgusted by the crowd's behavior and furiously shouted at them.
Physical Appearance[]
Coach Bobby Finstock is a middle-aged man with tan white skin, blue eyes and short black hair. He is in decent physical shape for his age, presumably due to his roles as coach of the lacrosse team and cross-country teams. Coach is typically seen wearing athletic wear, such as sweat shirts, jackets, track pants and athletic shoes.
Skills[]
As a human, Coach Finstock doesn't possess any supernatural powers and abilities, but he does have several skills. He is the lacrosse and cross-country coach, suggesting that he at one time played the sports, or at the very least is knowledgeable about them. In addition to his athletic skills, he is also very intelligent when it comes to business and economics, the subjects he teaches at Beacon Hills High School.
Equipment[]
- Lacrosse gear
- Whistle
- Heart-rate monitor [2]
- Clipboard
Appearances[]
| This article is missing an appearances section. Please feel free to add one. |
Trivia[]
- Coach's character was also in the original Teen Wolf movie series (Scott and Stiles had slightly different names), on which this television series was based.
- According to Coach, he lost one testicle to what he claimed was exposure to extreme cold, though the credibility of this story has yet to be determined. ("Formality"), ("Omega")
- Coach is known for constantly using the adjective "profoundly" to describe how much something has bothered or disturbed him. For example, in Season 4's I.E.D., he told Stiles Stilinski, "You know, Stilinski... If I could grade you on how profoundly you disturb me, you'd be an A-plus student" in response to seeing Stiles researching gruesome crime scene photographs of the murder of Carrie Hudson by Violet as part of the Deadpool.
- Coach has said that he has and will never forfeit a game of lacrosse. "Stilinski... I've never forfeited a game. And I never will."[3]
- He went to school with Brunski whom coach despises.
- He has stated that Stiles and Scott are like sons to him.
- Coach's birthday occurred in Season 3's Galvanize.
References[]
Gallery[]
See also[]