He was the leading theater reviewer in Washington when that city was a major tryout stop for shows headed for New York.
During World War II he served in the United States Army Air Forces as a writer and editor for Stars and Stripes, reporting out of Cairo.
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre describes him this way: "One of the leading non-New York critics, he was a warm, knowledgeable advocate of all good theater, and his views were regularly solicited by Broadway producers, even when they did not try out their shows in Washington.
He also wrote articles condemning racial segregation at the National Theater in the early 1950s, and seeking the repeal of a child labor law in Washington that prohibited performances by casts that included children.
Coe was known as an enthusiastic advocate for new theatrical institutions in Washington, including Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.