The National Speech & Debate Association has partnered with Debate Matters to lead the on-the-ground implementation of this project across Los Angeles and Southern California. The Debate Matters leadership team brings decades of experience coaching competitive speech and debate and building community programs that work within the realities of school schedules, teacher workloads, and student lives.
Leadership Team
Mike Bietz
Co-Founder & Chief Debate Evangelist, Debate MattersMike Bietz is one of the most accomplished debate educators in the country, with a coaching career defined by competitive excellence, institutional leadership, and a deep commitment to mentorship.
As program director at Edina High School and later at Harvard-Westlake, Mike built two of the most dominant Lincoln-Douglas debate programs in the nation, producing national champions at the Tournament of Champions, NSDA Nationals, and NDCA Nationals. His students have earned elimination round appearances at the most prestigious tournaments in the country more than 100 times over.
Beyond coaching, Mike served as President of the National Debate Coaches Association, advised the Tournament of Champions, and directed major national tournaments at Berkeley, Stanford, and USC. As Director of Victory Briefs, he grew a summer debate institute from 90 to over 600 attendees and founded the Victory Briefs Coaches Institute, creating dedicated professional development pathways for debate educators nationwide.
His contributions to the activity have been recognized with induction into the Tournament of Champions Coach Hall of Fame—as the first Southern Californian and first Asian American coach to receive the honor—and the Barkley Forum Gold Key Society at Emory University.
More than his record, Mike is known for what his students do next. His debaters and assistant coaches have gone on to become program directors and educators in their own right, carrying forward a legacy of purpose-driven debate education—and it is that legacy he brings to this league.
CHRIS THEIS
Chris Theis ranks as one of the most accomplished combined competitor-coaches in Lincoln-Douglas debate this millennium, coupling sustained competitive excellence with disciplined mentorship and community leadership.
Now, as a coach at The Marlborough School he has help build a national powerhouse, mirroring the success he achieved at Palos Verdes Peninsula, Lexington, Apple Valley, and Trinity Prep—sending debaters deep into elimination rounds at nearly every major invitational on the circuit, including Harvard, Berkeley, Greenhill, St. Mark’s, the TOC, NDCA Nationals, and often contending, and winning the Dukes & Baily Cup.
Theis’s competitive résumé remains singular: one of only three juniors ever to win the TOC and the contest’s only two-time champion, he also claimed titles at Blake, Emory, the Iowa and Greenhill Round Robins, and St. Mark’s, qualifying four times to NSDA Nationals across three events.
As Executive Director of Victory Briefs, he has guided its summer institutes to nationwide expansion while broadening the organization’s portfolio—overseeing the publication of widely used textbooks and topic analyses and launching products that help schools and teams strengthen their debate instruction. He also serves on the TOC Lincoln-Douglas Committee, the NSDA Lincoln-Douglas Wording Committee, and the NDCA Executive Committee, shaping national standards for the activity.
Former students and assistant coaches now direct programs of their own, extending a legacy of meticulous preparation, integrity, and purpose-driven debate education.
Co-Founder, Debate MattersAbout the National Speech & Debate Association
The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is the nation’s largest and oldest interscholastic speech and debate organization, founded in 1925 as the National Forensic League to motivate students to participate in rigorous public speaking and debate. Today, the NSDA connects, supports, and inspires a diverse community of coaches and students, with thousands of member middle and high schools and nearly two million alumni nationwide. Its mission is to ensure every school can offer speech and debate that builds communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creative skills, and it leads the field in setting competitive, ethical, and equity standards that expand access to high‑quality programs across the country.
Debate Matters makes high-quality debate instruction accessible by connecting experienced debate experts with the schools, families, and programs that need them most. Drawing on deep coaching and program-building experience, Debate Matters helps campuses at any grade level design debate offerings, train and support instructors, and run programs that fit local needs, from summer institutes and in-school enrichment to competitive teams and leagues. Rooted in the belief that debate education and coaching should be easily accessible, Debate Matters focuses on sustainable, school-based models that empower young people to develop independent thinking, stronger communication, and the kind of civic leadership skills that last long after a season ends.