This paper describes how two people, a professor in educational administration and a graduate student who acted as coach, used the coaching process as a part of collaborative action research. It focuses on the professor-coach interpersonal issues of mutual trust, new learning, and autonomy. The graduate student was an expert in coaching methods and a central-office administrator, who observed the professor's teaching behaviors over two semesters. These coach's learning concerns were also shared by students and the professor: the lessening needs for clarity and structure; the resolution of tension associated with new learning; the working toward mutual respect; the learning to trust of adult autonomy; and the recognition that change needs time. The coaching-learning process, which initially led to stress, pain, and lack of clarity, evolved into flexibility, an acceptance of complexity, and a renewed appreciation for other ways of teaching and learning. (LMI)