Ball State Speech Team Wins 2026 National Championship
Ball State’s Speech Team captured its second national title at the 2026 National Speech Championship, while coach Spencer Coile earned Coach of the Year honors.
Ball State University’s Speech Team captured the 2026 National Speech Championship, hosted March 21–22 at Belmont University in Nashville, earning both the tournament’s First Place Team Award and the Top Non-Scholarship Team Award.
The title is the program’s second national championship, following its previous win in 2019, and capped a season that also included Ball State’s 16th consecutive Indiana Forensic Association State Championship—a state record. The team’s 19 members represent 11 different majors and carry a combined 3.6 grade point average; four have been recognized among Ball State’s Top 100 Students.
Spencer Coile, MA ’17, coach of the speech team and director of The Speaking Center at Ball State, was named the tournament’s Coach of the Year.
“This championship reflects our students’ talent, preparation, and belief in one another,” Mr. Coile said.
The National Speech Championship limits each university to two entries per event, creating a level competitive field regardless of program size.
Ball State’s performance included three individual national champions: Jordan Denagall, ’26, won Informative Speaking, Mo Armor, ’26, won Persuasive Speaking and placed second in Impromptu Speaking, and senior Mar Nester won Interviewing. Graduate student Hayden Adams, ’25, placed second in both Communication Analysis and Informative Speaking.
For Ms. Armor, an Avon, Ind., native who earned her bachelor’s degree in public communication and advocacy studies in the Spring, her national title was four years in the making.
“I had been passionate about that event since my freshman year,” Ms. Armor said, “and every year it felt like I was inching closer and closer to a championship.”
