SHORT TAKES : Coach Role Shifts to Counselor

Actor Sinbad’s character on NBC’s “A Different World” will become a counselor on the television show, helping students deal with social problems and sex education, said one of the show’s producers.

Walter Oakes will leave his coaching job at the fictional Hillman College next season for a new position with the campus-based program, said co-executive producer Susan Fales in TV Guide.

Fales said the change was prompted by visits to Spelman and Morehouse, two colleges in Atlanta that served as models for the fictional Hillman. She said students there demonstrated “an increasing concern with civil rights and a resurgence of African-American pride.”

In his new position, Walter becomes “the voice of what’s happening in the black community,” heading a program that “will address social problems, like sex education, teen pregnancy, drugs,” said Fales.

The 34-year-old comedian-actor said he will enjoy his character’s new challenge.

When told in a recent telephone interview of the new direction his character will take, Sinbad said, “Oh, great! I can really get wild off counseling.”