ride (one's) coattails

ride (one's) coattails

To benefit from someone else's success; to use someone else's success as a means to achieve one's own. Everyone knows you've been riding the governor's coattails for the last two years, but once her term ends you'll be on your own. Jonathan rode the famous professor's coattails to get some recognition for his own work from several esteemed academic journals.See also: coattail, ride