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Policy Debate Faculty & Staff
Dr. Brian Lain, Policy Debate Director
Dr. Brian Lain comes to the workshop having completed his seventh year as the Director of Debate at the University of North Texas. Brian attended Wake Forest University on a Presidential Scholarship, where he earned a top-6 First Round At Large Bid to the National Debate Tournament in two consecutive years. Brian went on to earn his Masters degree at Wayne State University in Detroit and his Doctorate at the University of Iowa. Having coached for Iowa, Wayne State, and Emory (where he coached the 1996 NDT Champions) and taught at workshops such as Wake and Dartmouth, Brian's proven track record of success are even more evident in the new direction of the UNT debate program. We are proud to offer Brian's skills at this summer's workshops. 2010 Lab Instructors Nick Coburn-Palo Nick Coburn-Palo is currently in the PhD program in political science at Brown University, specializing in political theory and American politics. He was previously a Teacher and Policy Debate Coach for eight years at the College Preparatory School in Oakland, California. While at College Prep, Policy debaters he coached won the National Tournament of Champions in 2003 and reached the Final Round of NFL Nationals and the T.O.C. in 2004. During his time at CPS, his debaters also have won the Harvard Round Robin, Michigan Round Robin, The Glenbrooks, USC, Redlands and Stanford; reaching the Final Round of tournaments including MBA, St. Marx, Emory, and Berkeley. In 2003 he was presented with the Acolyte Award, given annually to the top Assistant Debate Coach in the nation. Mr. Coburn-Palo served on the National Tournament of Champions Advisory Committee for Policy Debate, is a National Forensic League Diamond Key Coach and served as the Chairman of the NFL National Policy Debate Review and Recommendation Committee. He has also taught over a dozen non-profit seminars for regions lacking in experienced coaching on behalf of the National Debate Education Project, Rhode Island Urban Debate League, and the Bay Area Urban Debate League. He also serves as the Program Coordinator for the Ivy Scholar's Program, a Yale University administered summer program emphasizing political philosophy, argumentation, leadership and grand strategy, run by the International Security Studies center. Mr. Coburn-Palo has also served as an English Instructor at Kyonggi University and for the Ministry of Home Affairs for the Republic of Korea, Assistant Director of Forensics and a Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Weber State University (UT), Teacher and Debate Coach at the Pinewood School (CA) and as the Assistant Dean and Debate Coach at Hopkins High School (MN). Debaters he coached while at Hopkins H.S. won the Minnesota State Championship and the T.O.C. in LD debate.
Josh Gonzalez Joshua Gonzalez is a Graduate Assistant Coach at Wake Forest University. Along with two NDT first-round bid teams this season, Josh helped coach last year's NDT finalists. Before he joined the staff at Wake Forest, Josh coached at Michigan State University, where he was a coach of the 2006 NDT champions. Prior to MSU, Josh coached for several years at Groves and Holland high schools in Michigan, qualifying multiple teams to the elimination rounds of the TOC and several Michigan state championships. Josh has led more than a dozen labs at several summer institutes, including Miami University and Michigan State. Scott Gottbreht
Scott Gottbreht debated at the University of North Texas and Northwestern University. He has been an assistant coach at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. He has also been an assistant coach at Colleyville, St. Marks, and Maine East High Schools. He has taught at summer debate institutes for the previous 9 years at the Championship Debate Group, the Coon-Hardy and Zarefsky Scholars programs at Northwestern, and the MNDI and Classic at the University of Michigan. Scott is currently pursuing his PhD in critical theory at the Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins University. He is also currently the director of debate at Johns Hopkins University. Jairus Grove
Jairus Grove is the Dean's Teaching Fellow in International Relations at Johns Hopkins University. He currently coaches debate at Harvard University. In the past he has also coached at Northwestern University, the University of Texas, and The Greenhill School. He has coached the winner of the TOC, the National Debate Tournament, CEDA Nationals, and every national circuit college tournament. Jairus debated for Memorial High School in Houston, Texas and remembers from personal experience that the best argument is the argument that persuades not just the best judges but also the bus driver who gets drafted for your break round. This will be the 15th Summer Jairus has taught at workshop. When Jairus is not coaching debate he teaches classes at Johns Hopkins on Insurgency and Modern Warfare, is a featured contributor to the Huffington Post, and is the Co-Editor with William E. Connolly of a blog on New Materialism and politics called the Contemporary Condition. Dan Lingel
Fresh off closing out the final round of the largest state tournament in the nation (TFA State), Mr. Lingel joins us from Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, Texas. Dan is widely regarded as one of the most talented coaches in the nation. His passion for debate is unparalleled. As the former president of the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA), Lingel has traveled the country spreading debate love and advocating for the survival and growth of countless programs. Dan has worked at numerous workshops over the past several years, including the esteemed Northwestern University program. Dan's teams have had enormous success, including TFA State Champions in 2000 and 2002 (finalists in 2001). Under his direction, Jesuit has also advanced four teams to elimination rounds in 2005 (with two teams in the semis) and three teams to the elims in 2006 (one team in quarters). He has also coached teams to the semis or finals of Greenhill, St. Mark's, Emory, Berkeley, Lexington, and Redlands. Dan has earned his place as a Key Coach of Emory's Barkeley Forum, and he is also considered one of the most highly preferred judges in the nation. In addition to directing their debate program, Mr. Lingel serves Jesuit College Prep as a counselor and the academic advisor to the entire junior class. Dr. Tracy McFarland
Dr. McFarland is the Associate Director of Debate at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas. True to form, Tracy's teams recently closed out the final round of the TFA State Tournament, which is widely known as the most prestigious state high school tournament in the country. Tracy was inducted in the Barkley Forum Key Coaches Hall of Fame at Emory University in 2008, making Jesuit one of a few programs in the country with two key coaches on staff. Tracy was the 2002 recipient of the Acolyte Coach of the Year Award presented annually at the St. Mark's tournament. Jesuit's teams have had enormous success, including TFA State Champions in 2010, 2002, and 2000. Jesuit also advanced two teams to the semi-finals of TFA in both 2005 and 2007. Beyond the state of Texas, Tracy has also coached teams to the late elimination rounds of Greenhill, New Trier, St. Mark's, Emory, Berkeley, Lexington, and Redlands. Tracy has worked for institutes held at Northwestern, Michigan, and Baylor before joining the staff of UNT. In addition to coaching and teaching at Jesuit, she completed her Doctorate in international relations and comparative politics at the University of Texas-Austin. She is also the current chair of the National Debate Coaches Association and serves as VP of Programming for the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance. Louie Petit
Louie will be joining Mean Green Workshops after completing his second year as the Assistant Director of Debate at the University of North Texas. Louie previously coached at Missouri State University where he earned his Masters in Communication Studies. He debated at William Jewell College where he win several speaker awards and elimination rounds as a collegiate debater. Coach of 2008 National Debate Tournament and Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament Semifinalist, Louie has established himself as one of the nation's top rising collegiate coaches. In just three years, he coached two teams to a First Round At Large Bid to the National Debate Tournament as well as the Top Speaker at the 2008 National Debate Tournament, 2008 CEDA National Tournament, and the 2008 University of Kentucky Tournament. Louie has immense experience working with high school students. He taught at the University of Kansas Jayhawk Debate Institute, Spartan Debate Institute, Missouri State University Debate Institute, and University of Missouri Kansas City Summer Debate Institute Ernie Querido
Mr. Querido is the Graduate Assistant Debate Coach at the University of Miami. Ernie's teams have cleared to the elimination rounds of numerous national level tournaments, including Greenhill, the Greenhill RR, Wake Forest, Dowling, Florida Blue Key, USC, the Glenbrooks, the USC Round Robin, Redlands, Blake, MBA, Berkeley, and the TOC. He also coached the co-Champions of the 2007 California Round Robin. Ernie has also fielded nationally competitive LDers (qualifying three to the TOC), Congress competitors, and Extempers. Ernie has several interests outside of coaching debate and cutting cards, including playing the bass and catering office parties. (Yeah, you read that right.) Ernie has currently taken the year off from full-time teaching to write a high school policy debate textbook, geared toward getting younger and smaller programs to become more competitive. Colin Quinn
Colin graduated from Glenbrook South High School in 2009, where he enjoyed a successful debate career. Colin and his partner reached the elimination rounds of numerous national tournaments that year, including the quarterfinals of Blake, the octofinals of Berkeley, 1st place at Marquette, and 5th place at the Illinois State Championships. In his first year as a college debater he has placed at most district tournaments including quarterfinals at Missouri State and Emporia State and semifinals at the University of Missouri-Kansas City tournament. He was also in the quarterfinals of the Freshman/Sophomore breakout at the Wake Forest tournament. Dan Rowe
Dan graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas. During his senior year, Dan has been extraordinarily competitive on the national circuit, including tournaments at Grapevine, Memorial, St. Mark's, Glenbrooks, and the University of Texas Tournament and Round Robin. Dan and his colleague received TOC bids at Texas and Colleyville, making them the first team from his school to qualify for the Kentucky Tournament of Champions. Dan also enjoyed great success on the local and state levels, including winning first place and the top speaker award from numerous TFA tournaments and reaching the semifinals of UIL state. Lauren Sabino
Lauren attended Canton Central Catholic in Ohio, which she represented at the TOC with 4 bids her senior year. She was a Top 10 speaker at NFA, Blake, Wake Forest, Valley, and Maine East, among others. Lauren attended Wake Forest University, where she won JV nationals as a sophomore. As a junior, she won the Liberty tournament, cleared at UNT, UTD, West Georgia, and was in quarters of UT. This year, she cleared at GSU, Fullerton, Kentucky, won Liberty again, and reached the semis of West Georgia. Ms. Sabino has coached debate at Little Rock Central and taught as a WDI scholar Geoff Smith
Geoff debated and South Garland High School and finished his collegiate debate career at Southern Illinois University, where he cleared at every major college tournament, including the NDT and a quarter final appearance at CEDA Nationals, winning a few speaker awards along the way. Geoff has coached at Grapevine HS, Highland Park HS of Dallas, and the University of North Texas. He is currently the Director of Debate at Wakeland HS in Frisco, TX. He has taught at the Baylor Debate Institute, the University of Texas Institute, and the Gonzaga Debate Institute. This will be his second year with Mean Green Workshops. Sarah Spring
Sarah Spring is a second year PhD student and assistant debate coach at the University of Iowa. Prior to that she was the Director of Debate at Miami University and a coach at Wake Forest. Sarah has coached teams into the the elims of national tournaments and to the finals of the NDT. She has led labs at Kansas, Michigan State, Iowa and Miami. Sarah also directed the Miami Debate Institute. As a debater at Miami University, Sarah cleared twice at the NDT and won the Wayne State and John Carroll Tournaments. Christopher Thomas
Chris debated in Eastern Kansas for four years at Blue Valley Northwest High School. He attended and debated for the University of Kansas for three years from 2005- 2008. There he placed at multiple tournaments; First place at Kansas City Community College, Second place at Missouri State, and Semi-finals of University of Northern Iowa. In 2008 he transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio. In the 2008-2009 season he had multiple showings in outrounds; Semi-Finals at University of Northern Iowa, Semi-Finals at Wichita State, and Quarter Finals at University of Nevada Las Vegas. In his last season of debate (2009-2010) he finished second in the University of Nevada Las Vegas Round Robin, First at Kansas State University, and doubles of both Georgia State and University of Texas. Chris has had three showings at CEDA making to triples, doubles and octo-finals. He has also to the National Debate tournament twice in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Still at UTSA, Chris double majoring in History and Gender Studies. John Voss
A rising star in the debate community, Jon Voss is the former director of debate at Sheboygan North HS, where he took the squad to two TOC appearances in three years after a 20 year absence. He currently coaches at Whitney Young Law Magnet HS in Chicago, IL. His 5th year coaching in the activity, Jon has coached teams to the TOC in each of the past three years. Recently, Jon's teams have appeared in late elimination rounds at Greenhill, New Trier, Michigan, Blake, and MBA while achieving impressive performances at various round robins across the nation. Jon is well-versed numerous areas of argumentation, but specializes in arguments that focus on the military and international community - in other words, he's very excited about the 2010-2011 topic! Aside from debate, Jon's passions include the Milwaukee Brewers, the Yonder Mountain String Band, and Tupac's real whereabouts. This will be Jon's first year at UNT. Toby Whisenhunt
Formerly an assistant coach at Grapevine High School, Mr. Whisenhunt serves as Director of Debate at Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas. Toby graduated from Amarillo High School, where he successfully competed in policy debate and numerous individual events. Mr. Whisenhunt graduated from West Texas A&M University having debated four years at the collegiate level. Toby is consistently a favorite staff member among students who attend the workshops. |
