if the coil is bad the way to check the coil is there is a stop switch wire that comes off the coil here is a link to that old coil i had at least it is a good picture for comparison
http://www.cmsmallengines.net/poulan-coil-part-530-039093.html
now when you look at this picture you will notice the wire that has a wire connector on the end of it that hooks into a stop switch on the handle of the saw near the trigger area
if you disconnect that wire and then try pull it over and get you a spark tester from a auto parts store connect it to the spark plug and see if it is getting spark with that disconnected if it gets spark then we know the problem is a short in that stop switch
this is a good way to determine if the coil is good or not
if you dont get spark then you know you have a bad coil