Policy Debate Faculty
Dr. Brian Lain, UNT Director of Debate
Dr. Brian Lain comes to the workshop having completed his fifth 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.
Teaching Faculty
Chris Agee
Mr. Agee returns for his third year as the Novice Lab instructor. While attending the University of North Texas, Agee qualified three times for the National Debate Tournament and received his bachelor's degree and teaching certification. He has spent nearly 25 years debating, judging, and coaching policy debate in the North Texas area. As the coach at Newman Smith High School for the past 12 years, Mr. Agee has coached students to both the NFL National and TFA State tournaments in policy debate, extemp, impromptu, and student congress. Mr. Agee earned his NFL Diamond award in 2006. Mr. Agee is adept at simplifying difficult concepts in debate while maintaining a challenging, fun, and energetic environment for young debaters. We look forward to having him back again this summer!
Michael Antonucci
Michael Antonucci is the argument coach for Lexington High School in Massachusetts. In this capacity, Mr. Antonucci has coached top speakers at the Glenbrooks and the Barkeley Forum, tournament winners at Greenhill, Georgetown Day, and Omaha Westside, finalists at Harvard and St. Mark's, two of the top ten teams at the 2005 NFL Nationals, and late elim participants and top ten speakers at virtually every major national competition.
Mr. Antonucci also entered the college coaching ranks this season. As a Northwestern coach, he helped to propel teams to two first round at large bids, quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament, and late elimination rounds of the prestigious Harvard, Kentucky, Berkeley, Georgia State, USC and Wake Forest tournaments.
He has previously taught exceptionally well-reviewed lab groups and classes at Northwestern University, the Dartmouth Debate Institute, the New York's IMPACT Coalition's Institute and Training Initiative, and the University of Iowa.
Mr. Antonucci's pedagogical success stems, in large part, from teaching simultaneously rigorous and innovative research techniques that propel debate scholars of all experience levels and intellectual proclivities to excellence. His pedagogy has benefited debaters within a wide array of theoretical frameworks, from realism to hypotesting to schizoanalysis.
Mr. Antonucci is also a published poet and former small-press magazine editor.
Kuntal Cholera
Kuntal completes his fourth year at the University of North Texas this spring. Kuntal debated for Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas and achieved historic results for his squad. A Kentucky Fellow, Kuntal competed in late elimination rounds at several tournaments, including Octas at the TOC, Glenbrooks, and Greenhill, Quarters at Harvard, and Semis at MBA, UT and Grapevine. His numerous speaking awards include 3rd at UT, 7th at Harvard and 6th at the Tournament of Champions. This year Kuntal and his colleague were in the late elims of several major national tournaments, including the Octas at Harvard and Quarters at CEDA Nationals. He concluded his season by winning 12th Speaker at this year's National Debate Tournament. We are proud to have Kuntal join us again this summer!
Julian Gagnon
Julian is a former debater from Buchholz High School in Gainsville Florida. In high school he cleared at Emory and Stanford, becoming the first debate team from his school to receive a TOC bid. He was a top ten speaker at FSU and the Florida Blue Key, receiving second place at the Blue Key Round-Robin. In college he debated for the University of North Texas for the last four years, clearing at the University of Kentucky, Wake Forest, Northwestern, and numerous other national tournaments, as well as receiving an invitation to the Kentucky Round-Robin.
Julian coached the semi-finalists at the 2002 and 2005 Tournaments of Champions, and the second and fourth speaker there in 2004 and 2005. While working with Highland Park High School, Julian coached teams who cleared at virtually every national tournament in the country and won countless speaker awards. In 2005 his team won every tournament they attended in California, including Berkeley, USC and Redlands. In 2006 he coached for St. Augustine in San Diego, who cleared at almost every tournament at which they debated, including reaching the semifinals at MBA. At previous institutes he received exemplary evaluations. Julian currently assists coaching debate at UNT, Grapevine, and Highland Park. He has been regarded as one of the best young coaches in the nation.
Sherry Hall
Sherry is the co-director of the Harvard Debate Council. She has spent the better half of her life coaching high school and college debaters. This summer will mark her 26th year of working with high school students at debate camps. She has coached one NDT championship team, one CEDA national championship team, two Copeland Award winners (which recognizes the outstanding debate team in the nation at the end of the "regular" season), two top-speakers at CEDA and one at the NDT, numerous final round appearances at the NDT, and the winners of every major college tournament including: The Kentucky Round Robin, The Dartmouth Round Robin, The Henry Clay Debates, Wake Forest, Northwestern, USC, Fullerton and Georgia State. She was named "Coach of the Year" at the Wake Forest University Franklin Shirley Classic tournament in 2006.
As a debater and then a young coach, Sherry was concerned with the underrepresentation of women and people-of-color as participants and coaches. She, along with Rebecca Bjork, initiated a "grass-roots" level project in the 1990s to bring issues of concern to the attention of the community by establishing group discussion seminars at tournaments. She encouraged those who ran summer institutes to promote diversity in their hiring and to hold similar group discussion seminars to encourage student participation and feedback. While the bulk of her time is dedicated to the Harvard Debate Council and the college debate circuit, she has established a significant presence in high school debate as well. Partnered with Colin Kahl at Michigan, she started the intensive seven-week camp for juniors and ran that program for six summers. She has been the editor-in-chief of the Planet Debate evidence database (formerly HARVEX) for two decades. She is the tournament director for the Harvard High School National Invitational Forensics Tournament which draws over 3,000 competitors a year.
John Hines
John has been involved in debate for over 20 years. In the early 90's he was a UIL State Champion and Golden Gavel Speaker from Grapevine HS. He went on to compete for the University of North Texas were he reached late elimination rounds in every major tournament including Finals of Harvard in 2000. He also competed at the prestigious Dartmouth and Kentucky round-robins and was a First-Round at Large bid recipient to the 2001 NDT.
As a coach, he has also been highly successful at both the high school and collegiate ranks. Mr. Hines has qualified numerous teams for elimination rounds at the TOC (including the finalists from St. Mark's in 2001). As a graduate assistant coach at UNT, John's students cleared and received speaker awards at nearly every major tournament, including making an appearance in the quarterfinal round of the CEDA National tournament in 2003. He currently teaches and coaches debate at California Polytechnic State University.
Professor Hines has also taught lab groups at Stanford National Forensic Institute, The University of Kansas Jayhawk Institute, the California National Debate Institute at Berkeley, and The Seattle Urban Debate League summer Institute. This will be his second summer teaching at the Mean Green Debate Institute!
Dan Lingel
Mr. Lingel joins us from Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, Texas. Dan has worked at numerous workshops over the past several years, including the esteemed Northwestern University program. Dan is widely regarded as one of the most talented coaches in the nation. Truly, Dan's passion for debate is unparalleled. As the former president and current board member 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'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. We are thrilled to have him join us this summer!
Calum Matheson
Calum is perhaps the most renowned young teacher in the debate community today. His reputation precedes him as an outstanding competitor, talented speaker and distinguished lab leader.
Calum started his success in high school, winning Top Speaker at the Glenbrooks, EGR, MBA, and others. He continued to claim numerous speaking awards throughout his collegiate career, including Top Speaker at CEDA Nationals, Northwestern, Georgia State, Fullerton, USC, Kentucky, the Kentucky Round Robin, and Harvard. Calum's three NDT First Round Bid years included Champion at Northwestern, the Kentucky Round Robin, in addition to countless late elimination round appearances at every major national tournament. He was a finalist at CEDA Nationals and two-time semifinalist at the National Debate Tournament.
Calum was selected as the Most Preferred Critic at the 2004 CEDA Nationals Tournament. Calum was the director of the Fellows Program at the University of Kentucky for two years, and has been an institute instructor since 1999 at Michigan State, Kentucky, and the University of Michigan. He is currently serving as an assistant coach at the University of North Texas. We are proud to have Calum join us!
Dr. Tracy McFarland
Dr. McFarland is the Associate Director of Debate as Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, Texas. Tracy is the 2002 recipient of the Acolyte Coach of the Year Award presented annually at the St. Mark's tournament by past award winners to the most outstanding Associate Director of the preceding season. In this capacity, Tracy has been instrumental in returning the well established Jesuit program to national prominence.
Jesuit's teams have had enormous success, including TFA State Champions in 2000, finalists in 2001, and champions again in 2002. Jesuit also advanced four teams to the elimination rounds in 2005, with two teams in semis, and three teams to the elims in 2006, with one team in quarters. Tracy has also coached teams to the semis or finals of Greenhill, St. Mark's, Emory, Berkeley, Lexington, and Redlands. In 2005, she coached a team to a second place finish at JV Nationals held at Woodward Academy.
Tracy has also worked for institutes held at Northwestern, Michigan, and Baylor. In addition to coaching and teaching at Jesuit, recently completed her Doctorate in international relations and comparative politics at the University of Texas-Austin.
Leah Moczulski
Leah completes her first year at Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington. Leah debated for the Woodlands High School in The Woodlands, Texas and attended summer institute at Mean Green Workshops twice. Leah competed in the elimination rounds of every tournament she attended her Junior and Senior year including Semis at Emory, St. Mark's, and the Tournament of Champions and Quarters at Greenhill, Memorial, and Grapevine. She also was the 10th speaker at the TOC and Greenhill Invitational her senior year. As a first year debater for Gonzaga, Leah advanced to the elimination rounds at California, Whitman, Northwest CEDA Champs, and JV Nationals while earning 4th speaker at the Kentucky Henry Clay debate's "Freshman Breakout" and 5th speaker at JV Nationals. We are tremendously excited to have Leah return as a lab leader!
Jason Murray
Jason, who recently drew to a close his incredible debate career, graduates soon from Harvard University and debated for Colleyville Heritage High School. His long list of awards certainly distinguishes him as one of the finest debaters in recent memory. As an individual, Jason earned Top Speaker at the Kentucky Tournament of Champions, the Greenhill Classic, the Greenhill Round Robin, the UT Round Robin, and Harvard. He was the Second Speaker at St. Mark's Heart of Texas as well as Montgomery Bell Academy. As a team, Jason and his colleague advanced to the Semifinals at the TOC and won first at Greenhill, the Greenhill Round Robin, St. Mark's, and Harvard.
Following a record in 06-07 that netted the 7th place NDT First Round Bid, this year Jason and his partner have been a dominant force on the collegiate debate circuit, winning Wake Forest and USC and reaching the finals at Georgia State and Kentucky. While his awards speak for themselves, many note Jason's kindness and genuine concern for others among his most admired characteristics. We are pleased to have Jason returning this summer!
Ernie Querido
Ernie served this past year as the Director of Forensics at the American Heritage School in Plantation, FL. During his previous stint at Pine Crest (FL), Ernie established a nationally competitive Policy Debate squad. His teams have cleared into the elimination rounds of each of the tournaments they've entered, 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 several interests outside of coaching debate and cutting cards. Though a much bigger fan of playing and listening to 80s alternative/punk music, he can be found playing the bass with an Argentinian rock and roll band on South Beach (yes, as in Miami) on Wednesday nights during the year.
Nicole Richter
Nicole has been coaching debate for six years and is currently the Director of Debate at Spanish River High School. She formerly worked with the Carrollton Sacred Heart Debate team. She is also the Director of Debate at the University of Miami where she has recently finished her Master's degree in Film Studies and is now pursuing her Ph. D in Communication.
Nicole graduated from Concordia College in Minnesota in 2004. During her college career she participated in
elimination rounds at several national tournaments including the NDT, Kentucky, CEDA Nationals, USC, and Fullerton, receiving numerous speaker awards along the way. She went on to win many tournaments, including Baylor, Emporia, Macalester, and Loyola. She also qualified for the NDT first from her district two years in a row. Nicole is committed to increasing participation of females and minorities in debate and focuses a lot of her time and energy on reaching this goal. She believes that critical argumentation and philosophy are vital aspects of education and student development and works to further these forms of argument.
Ed Williams
Ed coaches debate at Calhoun High School and has been a high school debate coach for 15 years, including working with the enormously successful team at Charlotte Latin School in North Carolina followed by his Atlanta coaching years at Marist and Woodward Academy. He has started two programs from the ground up and has worked with students of all levels. His teams have been in final rounds at numerous major tournaments and he coached the top speaker at NFL nationals in 1993. He has been a summer institute instructor for 15 years, including five years at Dartmouth, six at Bates, 3 at Wake Forest, and stints at Emory, and the University of Texas. This will be his first summer with the Mean Green Workshops, and we couldn't be more excited!
Ryan Stevens
Ryan will start his second year at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the fall. In high school, Ryan debated at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas under the tutelage of Dan Lingel, Tracy McFarland and Mark Batik. Ryan debated in the late elimination rounds at many tournaments during his senior year, including semis at Emory and the TFA state tournament, quarters at St Marks, Greenhill and Berkeley, as well as Octos at MBA. Along with those accomplishments, Ryan was a top five speaker at both TFA state and Emory. In his first year at Wake, Ryan debated in elimination rounds at UNT, UTD, Liberty, and Vanderbilt, including 4th place speaker at UNT.
Dan Rowe
Dan will soon graduate 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. We are thrilled that Dan is debating for UNT!
Zack Malitz
Zack graduated from Westlake High School in 2007. He will be attending and debating at the University of North Texas in the fall after taking a year off from school. He had mixed competitive success on the local and national circuit, due partly to refusing to read a plan text throughout his senior year. Zack was more committed to advocacy in debate than competitive success. Despite these difficulties he participated in a bid round at the Georgetown Day tournament. He dropped the perm in his 2NR. Notable accomplishments include: surviving twelve rounds at the grueling NFL nationals tournament, qualifying for TFA state twice, receiving numerous speaker awards at TOC tournaments, tying Kinkaid for third at the UT round robin after burning a couple of ballots, and reading enough 20th century French philosophy to permanently warp his psyche.
Grant Peretz
Grant graduated from Glenbrook South High School in 2008, where he enjoyed a successful debate career. After being the only team of juniors to clear at the 2007 Tournament of Champions, Grant and his partner reached the elimination rounds of numerous national tournaments this year, including the quarterfinals of Greenhill, the semifinals of Blake, the quarterfinals of Harvard, and 1st place at the Illinois State Championships. Grant also won numerous individual speaker awards, including 1st place at Greenhill and Marquette. He will be debating for the University of North Texas starting in the fall. |
