[RogerHebert]

Like everything else in FIRST, whether it's better for the drive team to be all student (or not) depends on whether the students are learning anything from having a mentor present. Just having a mentor on the drive team so your team does better in competition is not the point of FIRST. Likewise, preventing mentors from being on the drive team just so the team is totally student run isn't the point either. If the students learn something valuable from having the mentor there (strategy, GP, grace and ability to perform under pressure), great. Those are all important concepts mentors can help with, but in an ideal world the drive team could be coached about this ahead of time. For example, in the past, I've intervened when our drive team students were getting a bit too emotional and straying from the gold standard: GP & Calm, Cool and Collected. Now we have those discussions ahead of time (or after the fact if it occurs), and we tend to have less of that problem.

The ultimate, IMHO, is having the mentors collaborate with, and properly prepare students in advance for the stress/fun/challenge of the drive team experience. Then cut them loose. You can always chat about what could have been done better after the match.

But for rookie teams, or teams with a very young/inexperienced drive team, having a mentor is probably a good idea.