Our Faculty

Mike Bietz is one of the most accomplished debate educators in history, known for combining competitive excellence with a deep commitment to mentorship and community leadership.

Over the course of his career, he has coached 98 Lincoln-Douglas entries to the Tournament of Champions—more than any other program head during that period—including three seasons with over ten qualifiers. His students have earned national titles across the Tournament of Champions (TOC), NSDA Nationals, NDCA Nationals, and Novice Nationals.

He is the only coach in history to win both the NSDA and TOC national championships in the same season with two different debaters, a feat achieved while building the Lincoln-Douglas program at Edina High School. At Harvard-Westlake, he established one of the most dominant debate programs in the country, leading the team to sustained national success and a culture of intellectual rigor and integrity.

His teams have accomplished some of the most rare and dominant feats in national debate history: 2 NSDA Champions, 2 TOC Champions, 1 NDCA Championship, and 8 Novice National Champions. They've also produced 4 NSDA semifinalists, 5 Greenhill Champions, 3 Greenhill Round Robin Champions (including 2 close-outs), 4 Berkeley Champions, 2 Glenbrooks Champions and 4 finalists (including 2 close-outs), and 3 TOC finalists with 2 additional semifinalists. At Stanford, his debaters made up 6 of the 8 quarterfinalists and closed out the semifinals. Across all major national tournaments, his students have earned elimination round bids over 100 times, including six seasons with 3 or more teams in TOC elims.

Mike also served as Director of Victory Briefs, where he expanded the summer institute from 90 to over 600 attendees and helped create VictoryBriefsDaily.com—the most visited debate blog of its time. His leadership extended beyond coaching, serving as President of the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA), advising the TOC, and directing major national tournaments at Berkeley, Stanford, and USC.

His contributions have been recognized with induction into the TOC 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 accolades, however, Mike is known for his mentorship. His students and assistant coaches have gone on to become program directors and educators in their own right, carrying forward a legacy of excellence and purpose-driven debate education.

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 helped 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.

Nick Smith is the Head Debate Coach at Apple Valley High School (MN), Assistant Director at the Victory Briefs Institute, and Managing Editor of Victory Briefs. He has coached two state champions and three runners-up at the MSHSL Minnesota State Tournament, as well as a champion at the New York State Debate Championships.

At the national level, his students have earned NSDA National Tournament awards including Second Place Speaker, Sixth Place, Eighth Place, and Fourteenth Place finishes, and have placed in the Top Sixteen at NCFL Grand Nationals, NDCA Nationals, and the Tournament of Champions. Previously, Nick served as Director of Debate at Hopkins High School and coached at St. Thomas Academy and The Visitation School. He studied Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Minnesota.

Spencer Burris-Brown graduates from the University of Minnesota with his Bachelor's in developmental psychology in Spring 2026, and will be entering medical school in the fall. He has coached PF at Bergen Debate Club for four years, as well as at Victory Briefs Institute the past three summers.

In high school, he competed in PF for four years on the local Minnesota and national circuits: qualifying three times to the Minnesota State Tournament, making it as far as semifinals, receiving multiple bids to the Tournament of Champions, and qualifying three times to NSDA Nationals — placing as high as the top 20. Spencer has expertise in both technical and traditional/narrative-style debate, and is super excited to be directing the PF division at MDI this summer!

Sofia Ishal is a Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Coach with extensive experience as both a competitor and coach. In high school, she was a highly successful in-state LD debater, consistently placing at tournaments and qualifying to the national level her senior year. As a coach, Sofia has worked with numerous LD and PF students who have qualified to state and national tournaments, including coaching a state runner-up. Her areas of expertise include political philosophy and framework-heavy debates, where she focuses on strategic clarity, argument development, and judge adaptation. Sofia has a strong track record of coaching successful students across skill levels and is committed to helping debaters grow both competitively and intellectually.