Leadership

Coaches

Steve Clemmons (Head Coach)

Steve Clemmons is the new Director of Forensics for Saratoga High School. Coach Clemmons has served as the Director of Debate from 2009 to 2014, when he left to become the Associate Director of Forensics for the University of Oregon, one of his alma maters. Even when he left, he still coached Saratoga from afar, coming back to coach at many tournaments and invitationals. He returned in 2016 to coaching full-time at Saratoga.

Coach Clemmons was a standout competitor in high school (in our neighborhood rival league, the GGSA) and in college. In college, he won LD Nationals, (top Speaker) was a 2x octofinalist at CEDA Nationals, (top twenty-five speaker) 2x qualifier for the NDT (top twenty speaker) 2x elimination participant at NPDA Nationals (Semi-Finalist, Quarterfinalist, 2x top twenty speaker).

When he is not coaching Saratoga, Coach Clemmons spends his days as a College Professor in the Communications Department at Foothill College and as a High School teacher in Social Studies at Prospect HS in Pleasant Hill. Coach Clemmons has a varied past in the activity, having directed middle school, high school, and college programs. In that time, he has coached champions at the local, state, and national levels. Currently, he sits on the CHSSA board as the Chairperson for the Debate Committee and serves as the California Representative to the National Federal of High School Topic Selection Committee. He is still in love with all aspects of the forensics program and knows that there is an activity for every competitor.

Jenny Cook (Coach)

Jenny Cook has over 32 years of experience in coaching students of all ages in speech and debate. She is Executive Director and Founder of Summit Debate where she has been running Summer Camps for 27 years and works with clients from all over the world on public speaking and communication skills. 

Over the years, she has helped her students create and develop effective communication strategies to persuade all types of audiences, including authoring speeches, press releases and marketing materials for educational, political and business clients. She is the 2002 Massachusetts State Speech and Debate Coach of the Year, 2008 Florida State Speech and Debate Coach of the Year, 2020 National Debate and Speech Association Hall of Fame Inductee, and between 1991-2023 has coached Five National Champions in Speech and Debate, 16 National Finalists and numerous Semi-Finalists in all events at the NSDA and NCFL National High School Speech and Debate Tournaments.

Chris Wardner (Coach)

Chris brings 35+ years of coaching and teaching experience to Saratoga He began as a competitor right here in the Coast Forensic League. As soon as he started college, he jumped into coaching.  First at his alma mater, Branham High School, and then with Monta Vista HS. These experiences led him to take over as Director at Pinewood High School.

 More recently Chris served as a coach at Leland HS. While at Leland he coached multiple State and National Champions in Lincoln Douglas, Extemp, and Impromptu. During his tenure at Leland, Chris continued to serve as director for the Almaden Country Day School where he founded a program in 2007. The school now has a nationally competitive squad where students will often enter and win High School tournaments.

In 2021 he was named the National Speech and Debate Association Middle School Coach of the Year. A Buffalo Bills and San Jose Sharks fan, Chris enjoys sports and spending time with his family.