Former student and instructor named U.S. Debate Coach of Year at WSU competition

This archived article was written by: staff

Joseph Carver, former debate coach and student at the College of Eastern Utah, was presented “The Debate Coach of the Year” award at the recent Weber State University Debate Championship Round Robin Tournament in Ogden. The award was presented by CEU coach emeritus Neil Warren on January 16.
“In 1990 a tall, skinny, bright young man from a high school in Santa Rosa, Calif., joined the debate team at CEU,” remembers Warren, the debate coach at that time. “He was a dynamo. He could debate, do platform and even interpretation events.” In his first year at CEU he helped his team win 166 trophies and 56 other awards, including second place in Junior College National and a third place in National CEDA ranking. The next year, with his help and inspiration, the squad won 271 trophies and 73 other awards, including 14-team sweepstakes, a second-place finish at JC Nationals and a first place in National CEDA rankings. “I think his big win was at the National Junior Championships at George Mason University in Fairfax, Vir., where he and his partner breezed to first place,” recalls Warren. He was also named Outstanding Male Sophomore student that year.
After CEU, he debated for Pace University in New York City, he worked in the business world for a time. But his debate “itch” kept bothering him. When an opening occurred for teaching in the debate program at CEU in 1999, he was invited back to see if he could be as good a coach as he had been a student competitor. “He did, and he was,” was Warren’s response. In his first year he coached CEU’s debate teams to a first place not only in National CEDA rankings but also in the National NDT rankings and they were the National Champs in Phi Rho Pi.
The next year he repeated as first in national rankings in both CEDA and NDT, fourth in Parlimentary Debate, and second at the National Novice Individual Events Tournament. Along the way his teams won many individual and team trophies, and many of his students went on to four-year schools where they continued to win honors.
Carver went on to coach debate in Washington State at Whitman University in Walla Walla. “And” as Warren observed, “he must be doing a good job because he was named National Coach of the Year.”