The purpose of the study was to explore the moderating effect of the coach-athlete relationship on the team cohesion-team performance relationship. Team cohesion and the coach-athlete relationship have been constructs of interest for decades in sports psychology research, but the moderating role of the coach-athlete relationship has not been thoroughly evaluated. The results of this study are impactful to athletic personnel who design interventions aimed at enhancing team cohesion and the coach-athlete relationship as well as marriage and family therapists interested in sports consultation and the isomorphic processes that exist between families and sports teams. The study was guided through a structural family systems framework. The framework, originated from marriage and family therapy, stressed the importance of hierarchies, boundaries, and subsystems in optimal family functioning. Each concept was applied to sport team system research and interpreted within the results. The quantitative online survey was completed by 108 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III student-athletes at a small Midwestern university. The survey included two standardized instruments that measured team cohesion (Group Environment Questionnaire) and the coach-athlete relationship (Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire) and nine demographic questions. Team performance data was collected via the university’s athletic website. The sample included athletes across nine sports, both genders, and years in school. Student-athletes received recruitment materials from the Athletic Director and coaches. Participants agreed to the informed consent and completed the online anonymous survey in Qualtrics. All data were analyzed via logistic regression in SPSS utilizing the Hayes MACRO process. The results indicated significant main effects for team cohesion and the coach-athlete relationship on team performance. The most significant finding was that the effect of team cohesion on team performance was enhanced as coach-athlete relationship scores declined. The implications of the findings are vital to sports personnel because they should be intentional when building up the coach-athlete relationship as an increase in that relationship does not always lead to improved team outcomes. Future research should explore which facets of the coach-athlete relationship account for the most variance in the team cohesion-team performance relationship and systemic theory researchers aimed at measuring family constructs within sports teams.