Les Phillips
Les Phillips, Division Director & Instructor, Public Forum
Les Phillips is one of the most successful debate coaches of modern history. Mr. Phillips directed forensics at Lexington High School (MA) for more than twenty years, and during that time he coached students to numerous national invitational championships, as well as TOC and NCFL championships in policy debate (first place finishes, and top speaker awards, at TOC). He has worked at more than twenty-five summer workshops, is a five diamond NFL coach (an honor attained by only about 1% of all coaches) and former NFL National Council member who served with the NFL during some of Public Forum's formative years. Mr. Phillips is unique in being qualified to coach in policy, LD, and having taught parli at prior camps as well, so he is well versed on both the practical and theoretical issues involved in approaching topics of various sorts, ranging from policy to value to statement of fact. He has coached both high school and collegiate debate, and worked at some of the nation's top summer institutes, including Dartmouth and the Stanford National Forensic Institute.