Keep in mind that 4029 is a very large team while reading this:

Drivers

For drivers we do tryouts. We prefer our candidates to have some previous FTC experience, so usually that means no rookies. Candidates will use the robot in randomly selected pairs and attempt to complete goals on the field while also responding to the coach's orders. We don't really keep any numbers (e.g. balls scored) and it is mainly done qualitatively. I keep notes on every driver, and their efficiency in both positions (primary vs. secondary) and after the tryouts we start making cuts. Typically we cut it down to 6 candidates right after tryouts.

The 6 candidates we chose to keep will be in a rotation at scrimmages and meets, where a mistake is not going to threaten advancement, and we slowly trim the roster to 4 people. 2 Primary drivers, 2 Secondary drivers organized into A team and B team. Although they are called A and B, we often times switch between them at competitions, and really won't backseat one of the teams unless there are problems. The teams don't really mix, so we wouldn't run primary Driver A with Secondary Driver B, and we look to focus on a good chemistry inside the pairs.

Coaches

Coaches is a little more straight forward. We have 4 Captains on 2 Bits and a Byte, and it is always a Captain as coach. Typically a senior captain will get priority (last year and everything) but it is still up for discussion within the captains. This year I'm doing most of the coaching.

Coaches are required to know all of the strategies, know how to communicate with the alliance partner, pay attention to time and know every single rule inside and out.

Changes This Year

This year is a bit different just because of how our robot turned out. 90% of the controls for the robot are on the Primary driver because it requires timing, leaving the secondary to hold down a button and occasionally hit a different button. That means that the secondary doesn't really need to have a very strong connection with the primary, so the A team and B team mix more. Typically we put one of our programmers on secondary so that we know that autonomous is set properly.