Wooster's Coaches

Current Coaching Staff

Holly Custer***

Holly (Humes) Custer competed all four years in high school. A two-time state finalist in Dramatic Interpretation (3rd and 5th) and National Qualifier who finished 10th in the Nation in Prose Reading, Holly continues to hone her skills as a professional actor. Holly has produced state champions (Duo Interp.) and state finalists in Drama, Humor, Duo, and Program Oral Interpretation, as well as several National Qualifiers (Duo-Octafinalists and Drama-Quaterfinalist, POI - Octafinalist, HI - Semifinalist). Holly also serves as the chair for the OSDA Akron District, the EOHSNDA, and currently serves as the Secretary on the OSDA Board of Directors. Holly earned her Masters in Communication in 2016, and is an adjunct faculty member at Lorain County Community College, and Tri-C.In 2017 Holly was inducted into the OSDA Coaches Hall of Fame. She is grateful to work with an amazing team of coaches.

Allie Adkins

Allie Adkins has served the Wooster Speech and Debate team since 2022 as the Middle School Coach. This year she is starting as the High School OO, Info, and Declamation coach. She competed at Wadsworth High School for 3 years where she competed in Oratorical Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, and Duo Interpretation. After high school, Allie studied Education at Bowling Green State University and graduated in 2020. After graduation, she subbed in Wooster for a few years. She is currently a specialized paraprofessional at Edgewood Middle School.

Alex Massa

Alex Massa competed all four years of high school. Finishing 3rd and 2nd in the Ohio State Tournament in the 2019 and 2020 seasons respectively, he was also a 3-time National Qualifier in International Extemporaneous Speaking. On the national circuit, Alex took 3rd place at Yale University and was invited to compete in the Montgomery Bell Academy Round-Robin tournament in Nashville, Tennesee. Alex still remains involved in the study of international politics at Miami University and intends to work in the field of diplomacy. This is his first year as a coach, and he covers both the United States and International Extemp categories as well as Congressional Debate.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith participated in policy debate for 4 years in High School and 3 years in College. He reached the top 64 teams in CEDA National Tournament as a senior in College. Joseph was the full time coach for Queen’s College. He was also the policy judge volunteer coordinator for Wooster HS. Joseph has teaching experience consisting of twenty-six (26) years teaching at Ashland University, North Central State College, Lakeland Community College, The Ohio State University, and Franklin University as an adjunct faculty member. Joseph Smith earned his BS from John Carroll University with a major in Psychology, and his MA from the University of New Haven (CT) in the field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Joseph has been working to complete a Doctorate of Business Administration since 2017 through Franklin University. Joseph works at Franklin University as the Asst. Director of Comm. College Alliance. Joseph is responsible for the development, growth, strategic partnership management and enrollment success of Community College Alliance (CCA) partners throughout Ohio and National partner schools. Joseph's position requires excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate professionally, persuasively and confidently with proven ability to develop new relationships contributing to, meeting, or exceeding goals for enrollment growth.

Maggie Snyder

Maggie Snyder is a senior at MVNU studying to be an English teacher. She graduated from Wooster High School after competing in Lincoln Douglas for four years and she is honored to be back to coach!