Retirement, Death and Legacy
Following his retirement Coimbre began working as the coach of the Leones de Ponce, leading the team to two championships as well as extending his work to the Caribbean Series, a tournament where the champions of each Caribbean league participate. He received an invitation from the team owner of the Caguas-Guayama team, which was established in Panama, to work as the team manager. Coimbre also worked in the administration of the Indios de Mayagüez, when the team traveled to play in Havana, Cuba. He subsequently decided to work as a coach in the amateur league, while continuing his participation with the professional Ponce team and began coaching a team that represented Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico.
Coimbre began promoting an idea that focused in the performance of the team, instead of the success of individual players. In his first day as an amateur coach, Coimbre summoned the players to a conference, where he noted that if all of them felt like "stars" and played for statistics their collective performance would suffer. He won a national championship with the team, but decided to leave it and work with the Cachorros de Ponce, where he won another championship. During this time he also worked as a talent scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates. As a scout he was directly responsible for the hiring of Roberto Clemente, when he urged the Pirates to draft him in the first draw of the Major League Baseball Draft, even though Clemente was under a minor league contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Coimbre died on November 4, 1989, when he was trapped in a house fire. The fire originated in the house's kitchen while he was cooking, consuming the structures wooden frame. When Coimbre tried to escape he was unable to open the front door, because he had locked it with a padlock.
The City of Ponce honored the memory of Coímbre by naming its sports museum the "Museo Pancho Coímbre". The museum, which contains a large collection of sports memorabilia, is located on the Calle (Street) Lolita Tizol. Also, in Ponce, he is honored at the Park for the Illustrious Ponce Citizens. Also the building housing the Secretaría de Recreación y Deportes on Avenida Las Américas in Ponce is named "Francisco “Pancho” Coímbre". The town of Coamo also honored Coimbre by naming a sports complex "Complejo Deportivo Francisco Pancho Coimbre Park" after him.
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