Many students approach the introductory accounting course with a great deal of apprehension. For the most part, the course is populated by non-accounting majors who often perceive accounting to be extremely difficult and may view the instructor-student relationship as adversarial. As a result, such students may be inclined to express their frustration with the academic demands of the course when given the opportunity to evaluate their instructors. This paper introduces the coach-team approach, an instructional alternative which addresses the challenge of maintaining student satisfaction without compromising rigor when teaching introductory accounting courses. Essentially, the coach-team approach characterizes the learning environment in the context of a "coach and team," instead of a "teacher and students." This framing signals to students that the instructor is on their side and motivates them to follow the "coach's" training program.