Meet the 2007-2008 Wyoming
Speech and Debate Union Coaching Staff:
Matt Stannard, MA,
Director of Forensics
Matt Stannard has been coaching debate for thirteen years and has helped
teams win five national championships and countless tournament titles.
He was the recipient of the 2007 Coach of the Year at the Val Browning
Round Robin at Weber State, and is currently a member of the national
committee of the National Debate Tournament, as well as an editorial
board member for the National Parliamentary Debate Association's
scholarly journal Parliamentary Debate. A successful policy
debater for Weber State, he was ranked in the top ten nationally
throughout his senior year. He has served as the President of the
National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, and on the Executive
Committee of the Cross-Examination Debate Association. A founder of the
Debate Cooperative movement, he has directed several low-cost summer
institutes at UW for both high school and college students. As
a Lecturer in rhetorical theory, and a political activist, Matt writes
and speaks on issues of socioeconomic class and political movements. He
has taught at summer debate workshops at Ewha University in Seoul, South
Korea, the Emory National Debate Institute in Atlanta, the World Debate
Institute in Burlington, Vermont, and at several other summer
workshops.
Blake Carothers
As a debater for UW, Blake won the Claremont Round Robin, Casper
College, and Colorado College and was in elimination rounds at dozens of
tournaments around the country, including Claremont, Willamette, Texas
Tech, Air Force, and Utah. Blake served as squad President and was a
favorite in the many public debates presented by the Wyoming Speech and
Debate Union. Blake received a prestigious first round at-large bid to
the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence his senior year. As
a second-year graduate student coach at UW, Blake has coached UW teams
to tournament victories and elimination round appearances across the
nation, and taught at UW's high school and college summer debate
workshops.
Matthew Plush
A successful high school policy debater, Matt student-directed the
parliamentary squad at Colorado State University, where he was one of
the most successful debaters in NPDA and NPTE history. Appearing at
every round robin and in late elimination rounds of every major
parliamentary tournament, Matt capped his career as a first round
at-large bid recipient and national runner-up at the 2005 National
Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. Matt was also an extremely
successful coach at Poudre Valley High School and Southern Illinois
University before coming to UW to finish his MA in Communication
Studies. He is already familiar with UW debate, having taught for
several years at the Wyoming Forensics Institute.
Chris Crowe
Chris was the 2006 CEDA Debater of the Year, and during his career he
won the Weber Round Robin after two previous finals appearances there
(including as a frosh), and appeared in elimination rounds at Harvard,
Northwestern, Gonzaga, Georgia State, Emporia, SMS, Fullerton, Wake
Forest and the University of Texas. Chris has served as an instructor
at both the University of Kansas and the University of Wyoming high
school debate institutes, and was a two-time Fellow at the Arizona
Debate Institute.
Jason Nichols
Jason debated for extremely successful squads at Eastern Utah and Weber
State, and was constantly an elimination round participant, before
getting his JD from Loyola Law School. After deciding he'd rather be a
teacher than a lawyer, Jason taught and coached at Utah Valley College,
and is here at UW teaching public speaking and assisting with the team
while finishing an MA in Communication
Kristen is a second-year Law student at the UW College of Law. She
represented the University of Wyoming in the American vs Irish debates
of 2004, the same year she and her partner became the second team in UW
history to win the prestigious Point Loma University tournament, and
received a first round at-large bid to the NPTE.
Jeremy Weaver
A graduate student in sociology, Jeremy won the Air Force Academy
tournament while debating for UW, and specialized in non-traditional,
critical approaches to policy debate. Jeremy served as Vice President
of the Wyoming Speech and Debate Union his senior year, and as a
graduate student has accompanied the team to successful performances at
CEDA Nationals as well as assisting at UW's summer debate institutes.
Seth Ellsworth
Seth debated for four
years here at UW, where he won the Air Force and Southern Utah
tournaments, and appeared in elimination rounds at CEDA Nationals,
Gonzaga, Colorado College, and the Heart of America; he was also in
elimination rounds at the Emporia tournament during both his junior
and senior year. Seth was named an All-American Debater by the Cross
Examination Debate Association his senior year, and as a former
graduate student coach, he helped Wyoming teams get to elimination
rounds at Colorado College, Texas, Wake Forest, Wyoming, and CEDA Nats.
He has been both a lab instructor and site director for the Wyoming
Forensics Institute.