griffith vertican
Meet Griffith.
Griffith is a licensed Attorney, the 2007 NPDA National Champion, and one of the most successful coaches in Stoa, having coached for 15+ years. He's coached 10 different national champions in all three forms of debate, and the 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 LD national champions were all his students.
His top students include:
2013 NITOC Parli Champions & No. 1 ranked TP Team (Manoah Marton/Brandon Winchel)
2015 NITOC Tournament Champion (Joseph Abell) & 2nd place LD Debate (Jared Cochrane)
2016 NITOC 3rd place TP (Austin Pistor/Jeffrey Pistor) & 5th place LD Debate (Austin Janik)
2017 NITOC Parli Champions (Austin Pistor/Jeffrey Pistor) & 3rd place LD Debate (Lena Pacifici)
2018 NITOC LD Champion (Noah Pacifici) & 2nd place LD Debate (Noah Johnson)
2018 NITOC TP Champion (Jeffrey Pistor)
2019 NITOC LD Champion (James Sloneker)
2021 NITOC LD Champion (Logan Whitcher)
2022 NITOC LD Champion (Ben Arroyave)
Griffith is himself a national debate champion, going undefeated (14-0) with his partner in 2007 to win the NPDA, the nation’s largest collegiate debate tournament at the time.
He received his B.A. in Communications that same year from Point Loma Nazarene University, going on to receive his Juris Doctorate from Trinity Law School in 2012. He passed the bar exam in the hardest state in the nation in 2013, and has maintained his license ever since.
In 2008, he started what is now the National Institute for Homeschool Debate (NIHD), which has become the largest homeschool speech and debate camp on the planet, now averaging over 150 participants.
Griffith is also an avid cyclist, accomplished athlete, and semi-professional cross-country mountain bike racer, winning the California State XC Mountain Bike Championship back in 2002. At Point Loma Nazarene University, Griffith was captain of the Debate Team as well as Senior Class President. Perhaps his most prestigious award was the Carl Borvero Award, which was voted on by competitor schools and based on having outstanding character and making a positive impact the collegiate speech and debate community.
Griffith is currently an aspiring author, working on his first book, ‘Defy the Lies: The Case for Moral Excellence’, which he plans to finish by the end of the year. Over the past thirteen years he has worked in youth ministry, speaking to young men and women about the virtues of a chaste single life and equipping them to pursue a life of moral excellence.
Griffith’s mission as a coach is not just to help his students become great debaters, but to develop them into great Christians above all. In his own words,
“I’ve had the joy of helping my students reach the highest level of competitive success, but what matters more than academic achievement is that they have a life committed to Christ. My goal is to help my students see how these exceptional skills of critical thinking and public speaking will increase their impact for the kingdom of God.”
CERTIFIED TO COACH: TP / LD / Parli / Limited Prep / Platform