Best Coaches in Each State

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
Locked
User avatar
The Favourite
Wakka
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:01 pm

Best Coaches in Each State

Post by The Favourite »

So, I was listening to Tossup 21 today. Love this podcast, btw. In episode two, the State College guys were talking about their former coach, and I started thinking about the best coaches I've seen, first as a player, then as a coach.

I was wondering, in your opinions who are the best coaches in your state, past or present?
Tracey Hickman
Rock Creek 12
Redlands 14
Central Oklahoma 16
Coach, Murray State College (OK)
Former Coach, Coalgate Schools (OK)
Curriculum Director, Oklahoma Quizbowl Camps
User avatar
34 + P.J. Dozier
Wakka
Posts: 197
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:01 pm
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by 34 + P.J. Dozier »

As far as Massachusetts goes, I think it's pretty clearly Jess Bowen of AMSA because of the program's longevity and in-circuit competitiveness year in, year out. From my interactions with her, she is a great person and coach.
Wonyoung Jang
Belmont '18 // UChicago '22
ACF; NAQT; PACE
User avatar
Tippy Martinez
Wakka
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2017 12:48 pm
Location: college park

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by Tippy Martinez »

In my time in Pennsylvania it was unquestionably either Missy Doll-Osterhout at Manheim Township or Bern McCauley at Great Valley. Both outstanding people and knowledgeable coaches who consistently had great teams (that I had the utmost pleasure of losing to most of the time!)
connor mayers
maryland
User avatar
Dominator
Tidus
Posts: 636
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by Dominator »

I feel like Illinois has had a glut of great coaches. When I was first starting out, the ones I looked up to were David Reinstein, David Riley, Linda Green, Sharon Lorinskas, and Mike Laudermith. A new crop has come up since then and since I left Illinois, which only makes the choice of best in the state that much harder.

If you want to get to know Jess Bowen better (and you should), I have an episode of Tossup 21 with her. I also talked a little bit about coaches in the episode with Jonathan Suh. He talked about his coach, Jim Stankevitz, who probably isn't well known outside of Illinois, but he was an admired teacher and coach who ran a great program at Wheaton-Warrenville South.
Dr. Noah Prince

Normal Community High School (2002)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2004, 2007, 2008)

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy - Scholastic Bowl coach (2009-2014), assistant coach (2014-2015), well wisher (2015-2016)
guy in San Diego (2016-present)
President of Qblitz (2018-present)

Image
nicole.
Rikku
Posts: 254
Joined: Sat May 04, 2019 11:16 am

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by nicole. »

5 Fingaz to the Male Gaze wrote: Fri Oct 29, 2021 2:27 pm As far as Massachusetts goes, I think it's pretty clearly Jess Bowen of AMSA because of the program's longevity and in-circuit competitiveness year in, year out. From my interactions with her, she is a great person and coach.
Yeah, definitely Bowen deserves a shoutout. A big part of the New England Coaching Triumvirate (right now I have it as Jess Bowen, Troy Harris at Plymouth, and Kevin Commo at Burlington). Right now for Maine I'll put Steven Scoville at Cony as the top coach as the one who ran the first ever pyramidal quiz bowl tournament in Maine and who has been very supportive through the building of the Maine Quiz Bowl Alliance.
Nic Pruitt (they/them)

Founder of the Maine Quiz Bowl Alliance (MEQBA)
Bates College '25
Kings College London, Winter '24 Semester
Ridgewood '21
Director of Outreach, American Quizbowl League, Prometheus Science Bowl, and Long Island Quiz Bowl Alliance
Outreach and Technology, Florida Quiz Bowl Association
nicole.
Rikku
Posts: 254
Joined: Sat May 04, 2019 11:16 am

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by nicole. »

Also for New York I think it is easily Ben Kirk at Ithaca, given how many tournaments they make it to despite being so remote and the insane consistency of skill they've had for the past 8 or so years.
Nic Pruitt (they/them)

Founder of the Maine Quiz Bowl Alliance (MEQBA)
Bates College '25
Kings College London, Winter '24 Semester
Ridgewood '21
Director of Outreach, American Quizbowl League, Prometheus Science Bowl, and Long Island Quiz Bowl Alliance
Outreach and Technology, Florida Quiz Bowl Association
User avatar
Halinaxus
Wakka
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:39 pm

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by Halinaxus »

For Minnesota, I'd like to shout-out former Chaska coach Chris Lenius. He was involved with our quiz bowl program for almost three straight decades (1990-2018) and he's the main reason Chaska was so successful in the '90s and 2000s. We have an entire room at the school devoted exclusively to qb that's full of old packets, buzzer systems, reference material that looks older than me, and so many trophies they're quite literally falling off the shelves, and nearly all of it is Mr. Lenius' doing. His passion for qb is amazing, and he has some new 20-year-old story seemingly every time I see him.

Other coaches of note include St. Thomas Academy's Jamie Jurkovich (who's been around at least as long as Lenius and won almost as much), Wayzata's Meaghan and Brian Decker (who helped turn Wayzata into the utterly insane monstrosity it is today), and Robbinsdale Armstrong's Matt Quinn (who founded ACRONYM).
Reilly Melville
Chaska High School '22
Purdue University '26
User avatar
Atlashill
Wakka
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:52 pm
Location: Sedalia, MO

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by Atlashill »

Woooo, where to begin in the Show-Me State?

We have 50 years of quiz bowl history to look back through, best exemplified by our cradle of Missouri quizbowl in Northeast Missouri with Carol Farmer at North Shelby and Barbara Campbell at Scotland County. The two built up one of the first solid circuits in the state, with their Tri-Rivers Conference as a hub of competition. Carol Farmer is the namesake of the lifetime achievement award presented annually by the Missouri Academic Coaches Association. North Shelby's legacy continued with Sandy Werr as coach until a few years ago.

The 80s saw academic competition arrive en masse in our major metros. Kansas City's circuit was brought about by a competition at Maple Woods, which saw teams formed by Larry Allen (NKC), Mary Lou Johnson (Oak Park and later St Pius X), Vicki Jones (Liberty), and Bill Luce (Savannah). Luce's Savannah squad won the Beta Bowl national title in 1988, making them Northwest Missouri's pinnacle program for the next two-plus decades. National appearances by NKC and Liberty helped make Clay County the pre-eminent county in the state for quiz bowl at the turn of the century. On the other side of the state, Gary Durbin developed Cuba into a powerhouse, having the unique feat of leading a team to state in four separate decades. Roger Stephens did the same at Richland, with his teams making state for almost 20 years. Many of these coaches were involved when MSHSAA assumed oversight of scholar bowl in 1996.

Two additional names from the past to mention are Audrey Connor of Marshall and Jim McCrary of Lexington, both of whom spurred competition in the Missouri River Valley Conference 30 years ago. Even after their retirement and Marshall leaving for the NCMC, competition in the MRVC remains relatively active to this day.

Many of these names began retiring around the end of the aughts, and several new names appeared. Scott Allen made Hallsville the epitome of small-school programs in the state, most notably with the 2014 SSNCT title. Jason Loy arrived at Tuscumbia and developed his own blueprint for building programs, turning Tuscumbia from a oft-overlooked county seat into a state power in quick succession. Loy is now at Sullivan.

Also, while I'm not sure if he ever coached a program, Cleveland High School's David Strauss doubled as the co-host of a trivia program in the 1980s that aired on a radio station that only blanketed a good chunk of Mid-America at night with 50,000 watts. His co-host was Art Fleming, who had opted to stay in St Louis and in the employ of 1120 KMOX rather than return to LA when offered the chance to host another game show. That game show, of course, was the revival of Jeopardy!.
Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07
Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.
User avatar
1992 in spaceflight
Auron
Posts: 1614
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:11 pm
Location: St. Louis-area, MO

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by 1992 in spaceflight »

To follow-up on Kyle's post:

There are so many coaches in my state that I admire, if I try to list them all I would definitely fail. I think we would be doing the state a disservice if we don't mention coaches like Pat O'Keefe of North Kansas City, Lisa McClary of CIS, Scott Walker of Clever, Kevin Stockman (formerly of Orchard Farm HS) and my partner in crime, David Dennis of Washington. These coaches are like both Scott Allen and Jason Loy, in that they go above and beyond the call of duty in terms of hosting tournaments, moderating at both local tournaments and other tournaments their team attends, and in being leaders in both their local areas and all over Missouri.

I've learned so much, not just from all of them, but from all of the coaches I've ever interacted with. You all are awesome.

Also, Gary Durbin only retired in 2018 or 2019 and led Cuba to a pretty full schedule of local tournaments.
Jacob O'Rourke
Washington (MO) HS Assistant Coach (2014-Present); MOQBA Secretary (2015-Present)
Formerly: AQBL Administrator (2020-2023); HSAPQ Host Contact; NASAT Outreach Coordinator (2016 and 2017); Kirksville HS Assistant Coach (2012-2014); Truman State '14; and Pacific High (MO) '10


Like MOQBA on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
User avatar
Auks Ran Ova
Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
Posts: 4295
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Halinaxus wrote: Fri Oct 29, 2021 8:53 pm For Minnesota, I'd like to shout-out former Chaska coach Chris Lenius. He was involved with our quiz bowl program for almost three straight decades (1990-2018) and he's the main reason Chaska was so successful in the '90s and 2000s. We have an entire room at the school devoted exclusively to qb that's full of old packets, buzzer systems, reference material that looks older than me, and so many trophies they're quite literally falling off the shelves, and nearly all of it is Mr. Lenius' doing. His passion for qb is amazing, and he has some new 20-year-old story seemingly every time I see him.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
User avatar
cchiego
Yuna
Posts: 890
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:14 pm
Contact:

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by cchiego »

Ranking the "best" coaches can be difficult given that each school presents different opportunities and challenges. Every coach who commits to building a strong quizbowl program at their school deserves major thanks and recognition for their team's accomplishments. Winning state titles is hard to do in pretty much every state and national titles are extremely rare and extraordinarily competitive.

But it can be much easier to do that at some places rather than others. So while state championships and national titles are certainly one good measure, I'm often most impressed with coaches at schools not traditionally known for being academic powerhouses who build competitive quizbowl programs.

Probably the best coach in the history of Tennessee would be Ronnie Rummage, whose Ezell-Harding teams were consistently strong and often the best in the state across several eras of quizbowl history.

For Mississippi, it has to be Chris Johnson, who turned Itawamba into a regional power and a regular state champion.

Kentucky has also consistently produced some outstanding teams from smaller schools in more rural areas. Todd Garrison at Glasgow HS for instance and the coaches at Middleboro and Russell have all fielded strong squads year-in and year-out.
Chris C.
Past: UGA/UCSD/Penn
Present: Solano County, CA
User avatar
db0wman
Wakka
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:37 pm
Location: Champaign, IL

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by db0wman »

Chris Butler, the former coach of Uni, was a great coach for my teammates and I. Unlike many other coaches, he wasn't involved in teaching us how to improve at quizbowl. Instead, he taught us how to be intellectually curious people and he guided us in being courteous and sportsmanlike towards our opponents and towards each other. He was willing to drive us to any tournament, no matter how far, and gave up countless weekends to ferry us around. He was a great role model for me and I believe that he's the paragon of what a coach should be.

I'd also like to highlight Coach Aydt of Mattoon and Coach Hasquin of Piasa Southwestern. Both of them run excellent programs and host several tournaments, encouraging good quizbowl in the region.
Dylan Bowman
Uni '20; Illinois '23
User avatar
merv1618
Tidus
Posts: 719
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:43 pm

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by merv1618 »

To follow up Kyle and Jacob, it's probably worth at least mentioning Charlie Dees despite his coaching tenure being so short. He turned Rock Bridge into a top ~50 national team very quickly and actively helped Missouri get its only NASAT title due to a well-placed timeout in the final match.
Adam Sperber
Hickman '10
Northwestern B '14
Loyola (inactive) '21

" 'Yay, more Adam Sperber' --Nobody " --Cody Voight
User avatar
bretthogan43
Lulu
Posts: 77
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 10:50 am
Location: Cullman, AL

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Post by bretthogan43 »

In the state of Alabama, the legendary Lee Henry is the greatest coach of all time, past or present. Each program the man has been affiliated with has turned into a regional juggernaut and nationals contender. Following his trophy case full of achievements at Brindlee Mountain, the program continued to be formidable after his departure. Columbia steamrolled the competition during his time there, and West Point has had some of the greatest teams in Alabama history during his time with the school.
Brett Hogan
former player, Wallace State Community College
Athens State University alumni
Locked