[themccannman]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

The same reasons that the coaches don't play football or baseball or basketball against the students. The competion isn't really for us. We are already inspired and part of the STEM professional world.

This is for the students students. They are the ones who need the experience. The adult mentors are there to guide them with experience as needed to try and prevent the competition from being an exercise in frustration.

I second this.

Why don't coaches drive the bots? The same reason why coaches don't play on their own baseball or football teams. The coaches are there to guide the students. The best way for a driver to learn to think on their feet is to have someone who has experience walking them through the process. You have to put a little faith in the mentors that they'll know where the line is and not be too overbearing. Keep in mind we trust mentors to know the line with every other aspect of FRC teams. If you can trust mentors to not build and design entire robots for the students, then I think you can trust them to know how to coach drivers.