| “ | Settling down is what losers do. Settling down is what started World War I. Settling down is what happens when you bite your lip and then your lip gets swollen and so you bite your lip again and then you keep doing that thing where you keep biting your lip over and over. I don't want that. Do you want that, Prufrock Prep? | ” |
— Coach Genghis to the students Prufrock Preparatory School, "The Austere Academy: Part Two"
|
Coach Genghis is Count Olaf's disguise in The Austere Academy.
Usage[]
He is a "renowned" gym teacher working at Prufrock Preparatory School who wears a turban to cover his one eyebrow and expensive looking running shoes to cover his tattoo of an eye on his ankle. In the TV series, he speaks with a southern accent.
He is reluctant to remove his turban for "religious reasons". Vice Principal Nero says he won't ask Genghis to violate his religious beliefs, thinking it's more important than proving Genghis isn't a killer, and claims to do so is religious persecution. When asked what religion this is, the Hook-Handed Man says Reconstructionist Judaism and Olaf replies, "...Yes, that."
Genghis claims he shouldn't remove his shoes because he has been running all day and his feet smell.
As Coach Genghis, Count Olaf persuades Vice Principal Nero to let him put Violet Baudelaire and Klaus Baudelaire through his S.O.R.E. exams. When Vice Principal Nero gleefully expels the Baudelaire children for "cheating" during the S.O.R.E. exams, Sunny Baudelaire lunged towards Coach Genghis and removed his turban exposing his true identity. Count Olaf gets away where the White-Faced Women disguised as lunch ladies managed to abduct Duncan Quagmire and Isadora Quagmire.
TV Series Divergent Canon[]
In the TV series, he appears to introduce himself to everyone during a pep rally. He then gets the Baudelaires to run laps every night to make them tired so that they fail their exams. One night, the Quagmires help the Baudelaires and pretend to be them so that they can study. Olaf finds out and during their exam, he challenges them to an arm wrestle, claiming if they lose, they flunk and he will adopt him. Sunny unties his laces and when the Baudelaires push his hand down, his shoe goes flying into the air, revealing his tattoo. However, the white faced women have put the Quagmires into the car and when Violet pulls his turban, it shows he is really Count Olaf. He drives away with the Quagmires.
Coach Genghis wears a red Prufrock Zip-Up jacket and red running trousers. He wears white trainers to cover his tattoo and a white turban for ‘religious reasons’. He also has a red brooch from Carmelita on his turban. He speaks in a southern accent.
Quotes[]
- "So much to learn, and I am here to school you."
- ""Settle down." How often I hear those words come out of people's ears and into my mouth. "Settle," a word which here means "settling for less," and "down," my personal least favorite direction."
- "Let me tell you a story. Some years ago, a woman came to me. She needed my help. "Coach Genghis," she said to me, "I'm a failure. I have no job. My love life is in the pits. I can't seem to lose these last 20 pounds.""
- "And what did I say to her? Do you think I told her to settle down? Answer me, pippity-squeaks! Do you think I told her to... settle down? I told her to stand up. I told her to actualize and incentivize. I told her to keep her eyes in the clouds and her feet on the stars. Do you know what happened? She died in a mysterious fire."
- "Settling down is what losers do. Settling down is what started World War I. Settling down is what happens when you bite your lip and then your lip gets swollen and so you bite your lip again and then you keep doing that thing where you keep biting your lip over and over. I don't want that. Do you want that, Prufrock Prep?"
- "Students! Faculty! Don't worry if every exercise program you have tried has ever failed you, because I am here to fail you more by putting the "whip" back into "whip you into shape." Now everyone, get on your feet, and let's try something that I invented one lonely night at a truck stop, called jumping jacks."
- "This reminds me of a story. Some time ago, three orphans came to me needing my help. "Coach," they said to me, "we're complete failures. We have an enormous fortune, and we're keeping it all to ourselves out of our own selfishness. How do we learn to share? How do we learn to give up in the face of all-powerful, very good-looking physical strength?" And do you know what I told them?"
Trivia[]
- During the marketing phase of Season 2, Netflix seemed very reluctant to show Coach Genghis, possibly because they thought Coach Genghis may be offensive. For example, he does not appear in the "Count Olaf in Disguise" trailer, the 7 Dangerous Disguises trailer, the tie-in book cover, etc.
- To avoid caricaturing different cultures for the character, Harris adopted a Southern accent. That way, it looks more like Count Olaf is stupid, as if he thinks that Genghis is a southerner, not a subcontinental character, rather than the show's creators being insensitive/offensive.[1]
About Coach Genghis[]
"We put a lot of thought into Coach Genghis so that we didn't feel we were disrespecting anybody. I happened to be listening to a podcast called S Town and the protagonist, John B. McLemore sounded exactly how I imagined a small-town, inferiority-complex-ridden gym coach would sound." - Neil Patrick Harris on Coach Genghis.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
Books[]
Netflix[]
Animated[]
