Coleman attended William M. Raines High School in Jacksonville, Florida, and then Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. In 1981, he set the all-time single-season stolen base record at Florida A&M, with 65 steals in 69 attempts. He led NCAA Division I that year in both total steals and stolen base percentage. While at Florida A&M, Coleman was also a kicker and punter on the Florida A&M Rattlers football team, where he followed in the footsteps of his cousin, Greg Coleman, who was also a punter at Florida A&M in the 1970s and went on to a 12-year career in the National Football League. Vince Colman was a member of the Rattlers team the won the 1978 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game. He was named to the all-conference team in both 1980 and 1981 and kicked a game-winning 34-yard field goal in an unlikely 16–13 Rattlers win over the Division I-A Miami Hurricanes in 1979.\n', '

Coleman chose to forgo an NFL career when he was drafted in the 10th round of the 1982 Major League Baseball draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He stole 145 bases in a single season with the Macon Redbirds of the South Atlantic League in 1983; Coleman did so despite missing a month of the season with a broken hand. He further demonstrated his speed and basestealing ability with 101 steals for the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association in 1984, before being called up to the majors.\n', '

Through the 2018 MLB season, Coleman ranks sixth in all-time career stolen bases in the major leagues, with 752; only one currently active player (Rajai Davis) has more than 400. As of May 2019[update], Coleman ranks 45th all-time in career stolen base percentage among all players with 80 or more attempts, at 80.9%.\n', '

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