When Taylor Clapp took a job at Blackfoot High School, she had no idea that speech and debate head coach was in the equation.

A year later, she led the Broncos to No. 2 in the state and had six Academic All-Americans. Those team awards led to Clapp winning the Idaho Mountain River regional coach award and recently the National Speech and Debate new coach of the year.

“I am so proud of the growth they have exhibited this season,” Clapp said. Being named the National New Coach of the Year at the largest academic competition in the world is surreal and I am so proud to represent Blackfoot High School and the Idaho speech and debate community. Some of the local coaches have informed me no other professional from Idaho has ever won a national award from this organization; I am honored to be the first of hopefully many more!”

“The impact of speech and debate coaches go far beyond the classroom,” J. Scott Wunn, Executive Director of the National Speech & Debate Association said in NSDA press release. “They are fostering lifelong skills like critical thinking, effective communication, and leadership. They are empowering students to become engaged citizens and leaders in their communities.”

Clapp participated in speech and debate herself in college. After three degrees at three different universities, she ended up accepting a teaching job at Blackfoot even though she didn’t have an education degree.

“Somebody randomly one day said, ‘Well, why don’t you become a teacher?’ and so I thought, ‘Why not,’” Clapp said in interview with the Idaho State Journal. “I figured high school would be similar to college. Not at all.”

“Blackfoot offered me a job to be their speech and debate teacher and coach. I did not originally apply to be a coach, so that was a big jump for me.”

Blackfoot has a historically good speech and debate program and Clapp, who had no coaching experience, had big shoes to fill with the previous head coach Jordan Reynolds leaving.

In the beginning the Broncos had a hard time moving on from Reynolds’ departure and the way Clapp ran things.

“My team that I have were really attached to their coach before me, so we had a rough start to the season,” Clapp said. “I run things differently than the last coach, and that’s just natural for every coach runs their team a little bit differently and values different things, but these kids were not prepared for that, they expected me to come in and do everything exactly the same, so it was.”

As the season went on, Clapp and the team began to gel. With her focus more on team bonding and getting the kids to gel together and become one team, the Broncos grew stronger as a team throughout the season, going from zero first place finishers to constantly finishing at the top of the competition as the season came to a close.

Her efforts did not go unnoticed and Highland High School head coach Jett Smith saw the growth and Clapp’s potential as a coach.

“She was just given barrier after barrier after barrier, and she never gave up, she never quit, she never let it give her a bad attitude, and so that was just so impressive,” Smith said. “She dealt with more administrative hurdles as a first year teacher and coach than anyone else that I’ve ever heard of.”

Smith thought so highly of Clapp that he recommended her to the NSDA for the new coach of the year award, which she won.

“For her to manage to do all of that with all of these challenges, it was just a no-brainer for me to nominate her,” Smith said.

It was never easy and she had to jump through a lot of doubt within the program, but she led the Broncos to a historic season.

“The national award hasn’t sunk in yet. Winning the regional one was more personal for me,” Clapp said. “Because all the coaches in the region voted for it.”

“I had a lot of kids tell me that I wasn’t a real coach, or that I didn’t deserve to be in that position, or they just wanted their other coach back,” Clapp said. “To have the coaches in the region recognize that I was being successful and being productive with these kids really was the motivation that I needed to finish the year strong, and to keep pushing these kids to be their best, because they are really truly brilliant.”

Clapp is forging a new adventure as she is leaving Blackfoot to be the new speech and debate coach at Highland High School, but has special memories of this year with Blackfoot.

“I’m sad that I’m leaving, but I’m ready and excited for this next adventure, and I’m so grateful that I got to have Blackfoot be my first team,” Clapp said.

Clapp will be recognized at the 2026 National Speech & Debate Tournament in Richmond, Virginia, on June 14-19.

With Clapp’s departure Blackfoot is in need of a replacement and the job is open for people to apply.

“These students really are amazing and {hopefully they} end up with the best possible coach next year! I am moving on to a new opportunity, but it is because of the experiences we had at Blackfoot and how our team continued to adapt and grow that I was able to win this award.”