Speech coaches nominated for state honors

Two Glacier High School speech and debate coaches have been nominated for the 2010 Class AA Coach of the Year award.

Coaches at the AA state tournament in Bozeman nominated Greg Adkins and Ivanna Fritz from Glacier and Libby Oliver of Missoula Sentinel for the award.

Adkins and Fritz each have been nominated several times, including in 2009, when the award went to Butte’s Terri Belke.

Adkins, Glacier’s head coach, has won the award twice, but Fritz hasn’t yet been named the state’s top speech coach.

“She should win the award, there’s no question,” Adkins said of Fritz. “She’s been coaching a long time with me. I don’t know how she hasn’t won before.”

Fritz coaches Legislative Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She has been part of Glacier High’s speech program since the school opened in 2007 and coached with Adkins at Flathead High School before that.

“It’s very nice to be nominated by your peers,” Fritz said. “It’s always a nice honor.”

She and Adkins agreed that the nomination was more about team recognition than individual honor.

“If the kids didn’t do well and perform, we wouldn’t be recognized,” Adkins said. “We told them on Saturday, this is as much their award as it is ours.”

Their team performed well over the weekend, coming in second at the Class AA state speech and drama tournament in Bozeman. Bozeman won the tournament; Flathead and Missoula Sentinel came in third and fourth, respectively.

“Speech and debate’s a weird one. It’s one of the few activities that honors coaches this way,” Adkins said. “In most activities, it’s whoever won the state championship.”

Instead, coaches from each school nominate coaches at the state tournament. They will vote on the top three in March to determine the state’s Coach of the Year.

Each school will get two votes, Fritz said.

“If I had the opportunity, Glacier would be voting for Greg,” Fritz said. “He is a great coach. ... He’s very deserving of it.”

Adkins, however, is rooting for Fritz.

“She’s a great, great coach and a great person,” he said. “I’ll be campaigning to make sure nobody splits their votes.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.