The global rise of professional coaching is a testament to the power of standardized practices and a shared ethical framework, largely stewarded by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). While these standards have been essential for establishing the profession’s credibility, this paper argues that the system now faces a critical inflection point — the Standard Bearer’s Dilemma. It puts forth a critique of the current credentialing process at the Master Certified Coach (MCC) level, on two interconnected fronts: the subjective “tunnel vision” inherent in the human assessment of mastery, which risks creating a “methodological echo chamber” and the systemic failures of transparency and accountability that create a “black box” around the evaluation process.