It's been a tough year for Schmidt on New Girl.

Caught between two loves - CeCe (Hannah Simone) and Elizabeth (Merritt Wever) - he ended up losing them both by cheating on them both... and viewers have been watching him spiral out of control since, to the point that he moves out of the loft on New Girl Season 3 Episode 6.

This week, though, a blast from the past arrives in the form of Coach, who we haven't seen since the series pilot when Damon Wayans Jr. had to pass on being a series regular due to his role on ABC's Happy Endings.

We grabbed some time with Max Greenfield on the set of Hot In Cleveland, where he was spending his week off from New Girl filming an episode that will air in 2014.

What will it be like having Coach back amongst the friends? Can the guys party hard like they used to? Does the actor want to see Schmidt and CeCe together? Watch for answers:

New Girl Season 3 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.