Current Team

Coaching Staff

Dave Arnett - Director of Debate

Dave is the Director of Debate at the University of Kentucky. Since 2010 his teams at Kentucky have consistently been ranked in the top twenty nationally. On 15 separate occasions his teams have been ranked in the top 16 and three times he has coached the top ranked team in the country. Dave was selected the Ross Smith National Coach of the Year in 2009 and voted runner-up for Coach of the Decade. He was voted the 2015 American Debate Association coach of the year. He is the Director of five national college and high school tournaments including the Tournament of Champions which annually host over 700 participants from 35 states and four countries. Before serving in his role at Kentucky, Dave was the Director of Debate at UC Berkeley for twelve years.

Lincoln Garrett - Head Debate Coach

Lincoln graduated from Liberty University in 2012 with a B.S. in history. During his senior he won the ADA national tournament, made it to the octafinals of the National Debate Tournament and was one of the eight teams to make it to the elimination rounds of every national tournament that year. Lincoln has coached debate since 2012 with his teams from Liberty and Kentucky making elimination appearances at every national tournament including the elimination rounds of the National Debate Tournament.

Donald Grasse-Assistant Coach

Donnie graduated from UK in 2016. While on the team Donnie has cleared at the National Debate Tournament three times and finished in the quarterfinals in 2016. He won speaker awards at every tournament he attended his senior year including being top speaker at the Kentucky Round Robin and Henry Clay tournament in the same week. Donnie is from Flossmoor IL. While attending Homewood-Flossmoor he debated in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions.

Linda Barker- Administrative Assistant

Linda began working in the UK Debate Office on September 25, 1989, just in time for her first Kentucky Thoroughbred Round Robin and Henry Clay Debate Tournaments. J. W. Patterson was the Director of Debate at that time. She has enjoyed becoming friends with the UK debaters through the years and still stays with touch with many of them.