In 2007, Koechner was seen in his first leading role in "The Comebacks" (which opened on October 19), the first comedy to be released under Fox Searchlight's Fox Atomic division. He played a college football coach with the worst record in the history of the sport who vows to turn things around with his new team of ragtag recruits. He described this career opportunity as the "first lead for the right-hander." Veteran actor Carl Weathers played Koechner's rival coach. Though Koechner, who usually writes and improvises his material, had no involvement with the screenplay, he complimented director Tom Brady for taking "great care to make it as smart as he could", adding that it is a sports comedy rather than a spoof.