Oh dear… the “adult vs. student” coach argument comes up a lot. Most people are pretty set in their beliefs and this discussion often ends up getting angry, but it is nice to see the benefits of both. I am a firm believer that both options can work well, and that neither is “right”. One may work better given the dynamics of one team, while another team might find the other option.
I come from a team which has always been student coached. I was the student coach or one of the student coaches (the multiple drive teams argument is for a different day ;)) for all three years that I was a student member of my team. My team’s initial thought, back in the day, was to allow students to coach because we wanted to be very student-run, and to empower the students to be leaders by allowing them many opportunities to be in control of what was going on around them. Whether or not you think this was a good reason for them starting this, it has become tradition for us and has stuck with the team since then. Having been the student coach, I have definitely seen benefits. It allows for a different type of drive-team chemistry and close-knit bonds, because it is all students working together. I really like this about it. It does empower the students and foster additional team-building skills, self-confidence, etc. As a student coach, I also interacted with the other teams not just to strategize before our matches, and check out other robot designs, but I also talked to the same people about alliance pairings. This made that job so much easier because the bonds were already there… and I enjoyed networking and meeting all those new people. I learned a lot from our previous coach, who was fantastic. I also had somewhat of a knack for strategy to begin with (as did he). Because we were competent strategically, our lack of experience compared to some adult coaches was not necessarily apparent. However, if a team has a student coach who isn’t strategizing or leading or interacting well, maybe it’s not the right option for them. For our team, having a student coach worked really well and was terrific.
For other teams, an adult coach is definitely the way to go. It is not “cheating” by any means, and I don’t know why anyone would consider it such. Adult coaches are role models and very inspirational. There are many adult coaches on other teams that I look up to, and I know that the students on their teams value them and admire them even more than I do. Having a figure like this on a team, or at a competition for other teams to meet, is also important. Also, adult coaches bring some other valuable assets to a drive team. They are often much more experienced than student coaches, having been involved in FIRST for a long time. They have seen more on the field, and may have a better feel for strategy with interesting tricks up their sleeves. They are an authority figure, and should be representing the team well, acting with dignity, and garnering respect. They are probably better able to handle many tough situations, and can express themselves carefully. Not to say that student coaches can’t have these attributes, or that all adult coaches are perfect either, but in general these traits are found far more often in adult coaches.
I think we need a mix of both student and adult coaches on teams. They both bring value to the program. While student coaching was great, I don’t think my experience would have been the same without adult coaches as role models. I aspire to be one of these “rock stars” of the program one day… and having that sort of positive, I-want-to-inspire-people attitude has made me a better person. Teams should choose whichever coach works for them the best, and leave other teams alone to do the same without judging them or ruling their choice of coach unfair. These interesting situations like the coach question are all part of what makes FIRST interesting.