Debate Coach Receives Honor...

Bill Batterman of Marquette University High School in Milwaukee has been named the 2009 Wisconsin Debate Coaches' Association Coach of the Year. The WDCA is proud to recognize Bill's competitive success, dedication to other coaches, and service to the activity. Since returning to Wisconsin debate in the fall of 2002, Bill has been an enormously positive force for the community. Now in his fifth year at Marquette and his fourth as the Webster Club’s Director of Debate, Bill has coached his students to the late elimination rounds of many of the most prestigious tournaments in the state and country including Wake Forest, Iowa Valley, New Trier, St. Mark’s, Newburgh Free Academy, Blake, Harvard, Maine East, Woodward, the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament, the National Catholic Forensic League Grand Nationals, and the National Forensic League National Tournament.

The current Past-President of the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association, Bill has been a member of the National Forensic League Southern Wisconsin District Committee for three years and has directed tabulation at numerous tournaments including the 2008 Glenbrooks. He is a faculty member at the Spartan Debate Institute at Michigan State University and at the Georgetown Debate Seminar at Georgetown University and has previously taught at the Marquette University Debate Institute, the Michigan Classic Debate Institute at the University of Michigan, and the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association Fall Workshop. He has judged in the late elimination rounds at most major national tournaments including the final rounds of the Harvard National Invitational and the National Catholic Forensic League Grand Nationals.

Among his squad’s numerous accomplishments while he has been at Marquette, Bill has coached:

* Two State Championship Teams in Policy Debate (2007 and 2008), a State Champion in Lincoln-Douglas Debate (2008), and a State Champion in Novice Policy Debate (2008). He has coached ten policy teams to the elimination rounds of the WSDT in the last five years along with six Lincoln-Douglas debaters and two Public Forum teams (the latter two accomplishments occurring in the last three years). 

* Three Top Speakers at the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament (2005, 2006, and 2008). In all, fifteen of his students have earned top-ten speaker awards at the WSDT—more than 30 percent of the total.

* Top Speakers at the Wake Forest University Earlybird Classic (2005), the Iowa Valley Mid-America Cup (2006), the Harvard National Invitational (2007), the Maine East Regatta (2008), the St. Mark’s Sophomore Hoe Down (2008), and the Woodward Academy Second Year Nationals (2009).

* Nine Bids to the Tournament of Champions including fully-qualified teams in 2007 and 2009: New Trier (Quarterfinalists, 2005), Wake Forest (Quarterfinalists, 2006), Mid-America Cup (Champions, 2006), New Trier (Quarterfinalists, 2006), University of Michigan (Quarterfinalists, 2006), Barkley Forum (Octafinalists, 2007), Harvard (Quarterfinalists, 2007), Harvard (Semifinalists, 2009), Maine East (Champions, 2009).

* Eleven Qualifiers for the National Forensic League National Tournament including seven policy teams (2006, 2007, 2008 × 2, 2009 × 2, 2010), three Lincoln-Douglas debaters (2007, 2008 × 2), and one PF team (2007).

* Thirteen Qualifiers for the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament including seven policy teams (2006, 2007, 2008 × 3, 2009 × 2), five Lincoln-Douglas debaters (2007 × 3, 2008 × 2), and one Public Forum team (2007)

Never afraid to share his opinions about debate, Bill is a frequent resource for other coaches—volunteering his opinion on arguments and strategies. For the last two years, he has been instrumental in developing the evidence in the WDCA Novice Packet. It is fair to say that without his involvement, we would not have this free resource for all WDCA and WHSFA schools.

Bill has championed technology in expanding the opportunity to debate. He helped found Wisconsin Forensics Daily—the leading source for news about debate and forensics in Wisconsin—and The 3NR—an incredibly popular blog about high school policy debate that he co-authors with Scott Phillips of the Potomac School and Roy Levkovitz of Woodward Academy.

Earlier this year, the National Debate Coaches' Association honored Bill with its first ever community service award for his instrumental role in creating the NDCA's national caselist. The Wisconsin Debate Coaches' Association is proud to honor Bill Batterman of Marquette as its 2009 Coach of the Year.