[Lil' Lavery]

There seem to be two real components to your question- "How to train drivers?" and "How can the drive coach add to this process?"

In terms of training drivers, nothing beats experience. The more time your drivers have on the sticks, the better. Getting time at home is the first step, but unless you have a real practice field that can mimic the conditions found behind the glass, drivers are also going to need some time spent on the field and around other robots. Off-season events and pre-bag scrimmages are a great places for younger drivers to get experience in a competition environment.

In terms of the role of the coach and how a coach can add to the driver's experience, it varies from team to team and drive crew to drive crew. Each drive coach has their own style and has to find their own comfort zone with each set of drivers. Some drivers need step-by-step direction, especially as they're still learning the robot. Other drivers only need high-level pointers towards the general strategy. Sometimes you have to work as an in-between for the main driver and secondary operator, but other times the two have a solid rapport and can communicate without coach intervention. One of the few constants is that the drive coach will be the one talking to alliance partners during the match, and relaying any important information to the drivers.

For match preparations, some teams have the coaches act as the liaison to other teams to determine match strategy. Others have scouts or drivers do the talking (or some combination of all three). That's up to your team and how you want to conduct pre-match discussions with partners.