I thought about this issue a lot when the previous version of this thread was busy:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=91144
This year I switched from student drive coaches to a mentor drive coach (me). I didn't realize how hard this job was until I tried it for an entire competition. My plan for future years is to give this job to a student in years when there is somebody that is committed enough and capable enough to do a good job of it.
For a student to do a great job as a drive team coach, it seems like a bunch of things need to come together. The student should be very assertive, quick thinking, very knowledgeable about the current game, have some knowledge of general wisdom from past games, be very good at communicating with the other teams, have the respect of the drivers, good at communicating with scouts on our team, able to concentrate on the rest of the field instead of being distracted by our robot. The list goes on... able to choose wisely which information to yell out, able to know when they should try to influence the alliance partners in a tactful way, able to keep their cool when other people are over-excited or frustrated, good at remembering to offer encouragement to teammates and other competitors, able to recognize new strategic options when novel situations emerge....
Basically, I think that the drive coach has a really tough job. Expecting a student to do all of that is a lot to ask. I hope to find the right student for the job some years, because they are out there.
I also think the coach has a significant impact on the competitive success of the team. And that is relevant, despite the fact that the competition isn't the main point of FIRST. Success in the competitions makes it easier to motivate the students. It's also a lot easier to take a defeat when we think we did the best we possibly could. And it doesn't feel that way if we were in the stands asking ourselves, "Why are they wasting time over on that side of the field? Why don't they go to the other side and do xyz?"
It does bother me to take up one of the precious positions on the field instead of letting an additional student go out there. It is a really intense experience that I wish I could give to all of the team members. For that matter, I have previously rotated drivers / human players / coaches to get more students out there. But that does make us less competitive, so it is a tricky choice. I know that if we manage to bring home a regional trophy (something that hasn't happened since I became the coach), it would be really exciting for the whole team, not just the drive team. There is a balance between the value of being competitive, which is shared by the entired team, and the value of putting one additional student on the field, which is a significant benefit for one person.
I don't have an opinion on the right way to do this. I'm just sharing a few thoughts since this is an issue I have been considering carefully.