After coaching the Midtown Jesters Speech and Debate team for 20 years with 17 consecutive state championships, debate coach Mario Herrera has decided to step down and let the program continue to evolve under new leadership.
Herrera has been involved in the debate community for 40 years, beginning his freshman year in high school. He got into coaching after inspiration from his high school debate coaches.
“I had two really amazing teachers in high school, and since I graduated high school, they really stuck out as bright moments of my career or my desire,” Herrera said. “And I’ve always liked coaching. So, I worked in healthcare for 10 years, and then I was like, ‘why am I just not teaching?’ So, I decided to go into teaching, kind of as a third career.”
Midtown, formerly Grady, was originally a magnet school when Herrera joined the community. Within the magnet school, students could choose an emphasis or a specific area of focus, such as debate. The debate program was relatively small when Herrera took over a coaching position, but he expanded it throughout his time in the program.
“We had the magnet program, and speech and debate was an emphasis in the magnet,” Herrera said. “ You could choose [debate] as an emphasis, so it was a smaller team, but it was consistent and really competitive and great kids. But it really only offered a couple of events, so I expanded it to where we had 12 events.”
Herrera highlighted the changes in debate since he began, as well as the changes within the Midtown debate program. Throughout many technological advancements, the debate program has been forced to evolve and adapt over the years.
“It’s completely different,” Herrera said. “It is much more privileged. It’s much more expensive than it used to be. Colleges have had a lot of influence. AI has had a huge influence. Social media has had a huge influence. And it’s much more transactional. Despite all of those changes, it is a completely different activity than when I started.”
After adjusting throughout the years, Herrera has adapted to a stepped-back coaching style. He guides the debaters, rather than managing the students. Current senior team manager and Public Forum captain Henry Moye credits Herrera’s teaching style to likely benefit the team next year.
“The biggest adjustment will be learning to lead without Herrera,” Moye said. “He coached us on how to teach the next generation, not just how to debate.”
Junior Asher Lieb will be the team manager next school year. Lieb said he admires the approach Herrera takes to student interactions.
“He’s very open to everyone,” Lieb said. “He will not approach anyone in a different manner than anyone else. If you approached him with a genuine question, he would treat you as if you were his favorite student. That’s something really crucial in being a good leader and just being a good person, and it’s definitely something I’m going to try and replicate [next year].”
Moye said Herrera’s teaching has not only helped him gain comfortability and leadership in debate that he has carried with him in other classes and life.
“He taught me how to argue — how to make sure every part of my reasoning was strong,” Moye said. “Those skills carried over into journalism and all my other classes. He also taught me how to lead with compassion, and how to be a friend while still holding others accountable.”
Moye reflected on the emotions he had when he found out Herrera was stepping away from debate at Midtown.
“It wasn’t shocking when he announced he was retiring, but it was a ‘wow’ moment that it happened during our year,” Moye said. “We were his last senior class. He’s been such a good debate coach for so long. Seeing someone who loves debate so much step away was really sad.”
The Jesters will be led by Molly Martin next year. As a leader, Lieb hopes to carry Herrera’s leadership and teaching philosophies into the next year, under new leadership and teaching styles.
“Without Mr. Herrera, there is a huge piece missing, and it’s going to take a lot more effort for us to ensure that the freshmen and sophomores are able to be successful at a high level,” Lieb said. “The model our team has enlisted will remain largely the same, it’s just going to require a lot more from each of us juniors and seniors individually.”
