Coaching Staff
Bill Batterman - Director of Debate
Bill is in his fifth year at Marquette and his fourth as the Webster Club’s Director of Debate. Previously a coach at Nicolet and Appleton East, 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 the 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 eight policy teams to the elimination rounds of the WSDT in the last four 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, twelve of his students have earned top-ten speaker awards at the WSDT—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).
- Ten Qualifiers for the National Forensic League National Tournament including six policy teams (2006, 2007, 2008 × 2, 2009 × 2), 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)
Peter Woods - Director of Forensics
A 2004 graduate of Marquette University High School, Peter is in his second year as Director of Forensics after serving as Assistant Forensics coach for the last three years.
While in high school, Peter racked up an impressive collection of awards including appearances in the semifinals of the WFCA State Tournament all four years. As a senior, he was consistently in the final round of Humorous Interpretation: he won the Greater Metro Conference Championship, finished fifth at State, and qualified for NFL Nationals.
A graduate of Marquette University, Peter is a staple of the Milwaukee noise music scene and a gifted musician and actor.
Assistant Coaches
Ben Schultz - Head Assistant Debate Coach
Now in his fourth year as a Webster Club coach, Ben is a graduate of Marquette University High School (class of 2004) and the University of Wisconsin.
While in high school, Ben qualified for the National Forensic League National Tournament twice and reached the elimination rounds of the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association State Tournament of Champions in both his junior and senior seasons, advancing to the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. He won the Titan Round Robin at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the Hilltopper Classic at Marquette University High School and reached the quarterfinals of both the Pius XI Challenge and the Alexandra Hoecherl Challenge at Appleton East High School.
Previously an assistant coach at Brookfield Central, Ben is a graduate student at Cardinal Stritch.
Tyler Jackson - Assistant Debate Coach
Tyler has been coaching at his alma mater since graduating in 2006. A student at Marquette University, Tyler was one of the Webster Club’s most successful policy debaters of the decade.
The runner-up at the Wisconsin State Tournament of Champions, Tyler and his partner won the Appleton East and Neenah tournaments, reached the quarterfinals at New Trier, the octafinals at Wake Forest, and the doubles of East Grand Rapids and Stanford. At the National Forensic League National Tournament, Tyler finished seventh in the country, the best by a Marquette team since the 1970s.
Tyler is scheduled to graduate in 2010 from Marquette University with degrees in Philosophy and Computer Science.
Andrew Nolan – Assistant Debate Coach
A lawyer in Milwaukee, Andy is returning to the Webster Club in a part-time role this season after coaching the Georgetown Day School for the previous three years while attending Law School at George Washington University in Washington, DC. A 2001 graduate of Marquette High, Andy was an enormously successful debater in high school and in college at Georgetown University. He directed the Marquette Debate team in 2005-2006 while completing a year in the MUHS Alumni Service Corps.