Brit McCabe coaches at Bishop McGuinness High School in Oklahoma. Brit is a two diamond coach.

What was your first NFL experience?
Well, I didn't do this activity in high school, so my first NFL experience was not knowing how to do the points and going to a different town to get with another teacher to have her help me figure it out.

When did you decide to be a teacher and/or coach?
In college, like 50% of debate coaches out there I'm sure, I had some ambition to go to law school. I was just going to teach for a little while, and then all of a sudden, you look up and you've been doing this for a really long time.

What is your team philosophy?
I look at this as an educational activity, and not necessarily a competition. I've been asked before to limit the number of kids in debate to make it cheaper to travel, and I just can't do that. It's the kids that are never going to win a national tournament that this activity has the most impact on. Those are the kids that you teach. I've been as excited to have a kid win one single round at a local tournament, as have one win a round nationally, because they worked so hard to get there.

How many hours do you spend with this activity a week?
It's hard to say. Early on, especially when you're teaching new kids, you spend a lot of time on the activity each week. As the year goes on, I'm spending less time on theory, and more time watching rounds.

What is your vision for the future of the NFL?
One of the first things that I teach my beginning speech kids is that the most important thing to learn is how to communicate with people. I'd like to see the NFL become more involved in working with us to make speech education a requirement in schools. We need help showing school boards that speech is as important as virtually any other subject, and in my estimation, more important.

What is exciting about being an NFL coach in the state of Oklahoma?
From a personal standpoint, the friends that you make. It's about getting to know coaches and kids from other schools, and having some sort of relationship with a large number of individuals out there..people that have the possibility and capability of making a huge difference on this planet. It's about working the District Tournament with Charlene Burton and having the opportunity to spend time with H. B. Mitchell. As a young coach, you look up to those people. It's also about coaching with dinosaurs like Glenda Ferguson, who should be dead by the next ice age!

What’s unique about Bishop McGuinness High as an NFL chapter?
It's a private catholic school and with that there are some issues and concepts that we have to be a little concerned about as far as where we go topic-wise, but mostly not too much because they understand what we're doing here. They've been very supportive. I've been here since '89 and I've never been at a school that's supported the program as much as they do here and that's been a very good thing.

What qualities do you look for when recruiting students for your program?
To a certain degree, that's changed. When I was younger, I focused on innate ability and tried to get those kids honed well. But today, it's "do you want to do it?" I tell kids that I'll work with them at the level that they choose to participate. Many kids do a lot of different activities, and they like debate because of debate itself, they don't necessarily want to become nationally competitive. I don't seek anybody out and primarily, it's because I've been very surprised with kids that you initially think may not be very good.

What is your favorite memory from a National Tournament?
In Minneapolis, when Glenda Ferguson lost not only her car, but the parking garage. Not just the rental car, but the PARKING GARAGE itself.

What is the greatest challenge as a coach today?
The greatest challenge is overcoming all of the other options the children have with their free time. There are 500 channels on TV, the internet, cell phones, and everything else clambering for their attention and overcoming that in itself is a challenge. I'm glad to see the junior high program in the NFL because often by the time a kid becomes a freshman, they're already invested in another activity and to get them to change courses is sometimes difficult.

What’s your favorite weekend tournament food item?
Anything that's available. One school does turkey, which is always really nice.