Nowadays the word 'coach' usually applies to athletics, but it dates to the 1830s, when Cambridge University started awarding math degrees by competitive examination. A coach was someone who gave you a straight, smooth ride to your degree, just like a horse-drawn coach on one of the new paved roads that began appearing in England around that time. So coaching was hip.
The high scorers on the exam were a Who's Who of British science in the 1800s. In 1854, for example, the second highest scorer was James Clerk Maxwell, the greatest physicist of the century, who gave humankind its first look at a fundamental law of nature. The guy who beat Maxwell became a coach and spent the rest of his life teaching people how to do well on the exam.
The high scorers on the exam were a Who's Who of British science in the 1800s. In 1854, for example, the second highest scorer was James Clerk Maxwell, the greatest physicist of the century, who gave humankind its first look at a fundamental law of nature. The guy who beat Maxwell became a coach and spent the rest of his life teaching people how to do well on the exam.