[Coach Norm]

According to Wikipedia: In sports, a coach is a person involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople. A coach may also be a teacher.

In addition Wikipedia says: Students at the University of Oxford in the early nineteenth-century used the word informally to refer to a private tutor who would "carry" a less able student through his examinations. Hence the meaning of the word was extended to encompass any instructor or trainer.

I am the drive coach for our team at our FRC regional contests. I have a background of coaching high school sports for 17+ years. I agree with many responders here that each team should do what is best for their team.
I know of several teams who were have partnered with at tournaments who use students as drive coaches and have had great success.
We as a team believe that each alliance should have say in the strategy but also that a higher ranked team should have large say in this strategy.

I can honestly say that coaching can be a tough position to be in. There are lots of things happening extremely fast out there and it is very important to be very knowledgeable of all six teams on the field at that current time. An effective coach needs to have a good scout team and awareness of the capabilities of the robots on the field. Strategy is something that should change not only from match to match but also during the match.

I also am believer that any coach on the field should be responsible to all three team members of the alliance. The coach should not intimidate any students on the alliance. It is very important for the coach to be positive and try to improve all team members of the alliance when he has the chance. This includes before match, in match as well as after the match is over.

FIRST is about causing change. We as individuals and teams should respect the decisions of each individual team to do what is best for them: student coach or adult coach. I do believe that the decisions of the coach has a huge impact on the success of the team and the alliance.