[Gary Dillard]

I have had years when I had a student who was capable and I let them be the coach, primarily because I have to spend alot of time in the pits working on the robot and I feel that the coach needs to be available to watch as many matches as possible in order to be the best strategist. I have had the student coach coordinate the scouting team so he knows what is going on with the game and the other teams.

However, my preference is to have a mentor for one specific reason. If something goes wrong with a match relative to scoring or a ruling, then a student has to bring it to the attention of the head referee immediately. I feel that a student is at a disadvantage debating with an adult in presenting their case while trying to be respectful of the adult, so I like to have an adult standing behind him for support.