I am with you jb.To me the sports coach should'nt be looked at no different than the speech teacher thats in charge of the debate club or the math teacher that is running the math team.Our kids aren't the only ones representing the school.With that there should be a certain amount of professionizm accepted.In most cases I feel that the student athlete to coach is best approach.But i have also realized over the years that when everyone is communicating things go better.Also talking to a coach can be "Coach you really have things going well" instead of letting them know "you don't have a clue".
So...if a kid is failing English do you let the kid go and talk to the teacher about how maybe he's studying the wrong thing, or how to do better on the tests...you know get some pointers, or do you the parent set up a meeting with the teacher to discuss the grade parent to teacher and leave the child out of it?
iWell.... I would say thats your choice right? But lets get real here dont you think the english teacher is just a tad less likely to bully and intimidate your child?l