The thing about Josh's swing (Bobby Tewksbary) is that a) you have more time to see the ball and adjust and b) you don't have to have perfect timing like you do with a down to the ball approach. The key to the foot and hips opening is to make sure the shoulders are not opening with them at foot plant. Ive found that when you teach the "kick" is really more like a shock absorber motion (head stays level, leg comes into body and then stride) as opposed to to a big kick and tilt backwards, that helps hitters understand the movement.
If a coach tells a kid to hit down on the ball, I wouldn't tell him to say no, I'd tell him to find another coach.