Tara Norick, an assistant coach at Columbia Falls High School, has been named the state’s top Class A speech coach by the Montana Forensic Educators Association.

In her five years as a speech coach, Norick has helped Columbia Falls secure five Class A state titles and has coached five individual state champions.

That includes a champ this year in every event she coaches: Keri Potter won a state title in Expository Speaking and Jon Riffey won in Extemporaneous and Impromptu speaking.

“My group did very well,” Norick said. “I was pretty stoked. It was great.”

Seeing the students succeed is one of the main reasons Norick enjoys coaching.

“It’s so rewarding to see them going from having not much self-confidence to see them develop an opinion, have confidence and have an opinion on what’s going on in the world,” she said. “It’s an area where I do make an impact on the future.”

Norick’s career as a speech coach began six years ago when her son was a Lincoln-Douglas debater on the Columbia Falls team.

“I thought speech and debate was like football. I went to every one of his debates,” Norick said, laughing.

She went to meets in the Flathead Valley and beyond, and after she followed the team for a year, head coach Michael Christensen suggested she try coaching. There were too many debaters that season, Norick recalled, so she turned some debaters into speech competitors.

Christensen has encouraged her from day one, she said.

“I couldn’t have done it without Michael’s help. He has been a fantastic mentor,” Norick said.

She said she considers herself lucky for “starting in such a fantastic coaching environment and [Christensen] teaching me successful ways to coach.”

Even so, there are many successful coaches in Montana, which makes Norick appreciate the Coach of the Year award even more.

“It was a really big honor because there are so many talented coaches in the state,” she said. “So many coaches have such a legacy. It was nice to be considered in that same group.”

Last year’s top Class A speech coach was Pat McLaughlin, head coach at Whitefish High School. Christensen won the award in 2008.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at [email protected].