The role of the drive coach varies from team to team, but in general the coach is in charge of match strategy and in-match gameplay. As drive coach, before every match I look at who we are with and who we're against, and gather our scouting data on each team, looking over their strengths and weaknesses. Once I have an idea of what my alliance partners and opponents can and cannot do, I gather the drove coaches of my alliance for that match and meet to discuss how we want to play the round. We discuss what each team can do, what we predict our opponents will do, what each team will need to do to win the match, and use this information to develop a somewhat detailed match plan for each team on the alliance throughout the duration of the match, as well as contingency plans if something happens to go wrong. When everyone understands the game plan, we all head back to our teams and prepare for the match, filling in our drivers on what the plan is. Once we get to queuing, I talk with all members of the alliance members drive teams and reaffirm what the plan is. When it's time for our match, we get the robot set up, and go behind the alliance wall. Before the match starts, I tell my drivers exactly what to do after autonomous ends, which sometimes will be a conditional (if we make it, do x, if we don't, do y). When autonomous begins, I not only watch my robot, but my alliance member's robots and my opponent's robots. It's important to see what is happening live and make a decision instantly on what your alliance needs to do and quickly convey that message to your drivers and to your alliance drive coaches. If you see an alliance member miss a ball in autonomous and you don't think they'll be able to score it, you need to tell your drivers to get that ball and score it first thing in teleop and tell the alliance drive coaches that that is what you're going to do. When autonomous ends my drivers have a command that I've already told them, so as they do that I survey the field and see what's going on with all robots on the field. I make sure my alliance members can do their jobs, and if they can't direct my team to aid them in whatever way we can. In this game especially it's important that you help your alliance partners if they're struggling, because this isn't a game you can play by yourself. As the match goes on, I tell my drivers what to do and update them on how much time is remaining and change the strategy based on how the match is going. If my drivers know what to do and are confident in what they're doing, I can quickly scope out the opponents and see what's going on over there. It is also important to communicate with your human players. However as much as you need to look at the entire field and talk to your alliance members, you also need to tell your drivers what to do in the match. Always assume that they won't know what to do unless you're telling them. Drivers are very focused people. Having been driver before I can tell you that when driving, all you see is your robot and what you're doing. Nothing outside of the small radius you're looking at matters. If there is something happening outside the driver's field of vision that could affect their driving (ie a robot coming to play defense), it is the coach's job to see that and quickly direct the drivers on how to avoid the defense and keep on their scoring path. One of the big keys to being a successful coach is communication. You need to make sure your drive team and your alliance partners can understand the message you're trying to get across extremely quickly with the utmost clarity and minimal confusion. Work with your drivers on developing a common vocabulary that you can use so that both you and them understand what you mean.

Overall, the idea of what the coach should do is pretty general for the entire competition, but what you will need to do will vary match by match. The role of coach is very dynamic and requires the ability to change strategies on the fly to be done successfully.

Hope this answers some of your questions.