On an athletic scholarship, Coats attended University of Southern California as an architecture student, but later received his bachelor's degree in drawing in 1934.
[5] Coats' earliest film work included the 1935 animated shorts Mickey's Fire Brigade and Pluto's Judgement Day.
He also painted backgrounds for the Silly Symphony musical shorts, earning him membership to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This "second career" as one of Disneyland's art directors and show designers brought his dynamic film sets to an immersive, three-dimensional space.
Coats would go on to serve as the designer for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Pirates of the Caribbean, World of Motion and Horizons.