10-13-15

The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh

Pitt volleyball’s Fisher has Panthers primed for future success Page 9 October 13, 2015 | Issue 41 | Volume 106

Pitt, FBI Oakland honors Indigenous Peoples Day warn students of scam Elizabeth Lepro

Assistant News Editor Pitt warned students last week of a phone scam that targets college students.

The University released a warning on Friday on the My Pitt home page and through Campus Connect about a phone scam where a caller, claiming to represent the U.S. government, with a forged phone number tells the student that he or she owes delinquent student loans, dues or parking tickets. The caller, using a “spoofed” phone number that appears to be official, has threatened students with arrest and delayed graduation if the student does not immediately pay the fees via MoneyGram, according to an FBI Atlanta Division release from Sept. 28.

The warning originated in Atlanta, where multiple students from universities in states including Georgia and Wisconsin called the FBI Atlanta Division to report the fake call- Marchers gathered on Bigelow Boulevard yesterday in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. Nikki Moriello VISUAL EDITOR ers. topher Columbus statue outside Phipps At Pitt on Monday, about 200 stuAccording to the FBI release, the caller Lauren Rosenblatt and Dale Conservatory, where they gathered to dents and community members gathered ID shows up as a number from the Atlanta Shoemaker listen to speeches and poetry about the in front of the Cathedral of Learning at The Pitt News Staff FBI field office, but the FBI does not call indevastating effects of colonization on in5:30 p.m. to march against Columbus With pennants and ribbons waving, dividuals requesting money. digenous people, and ways they can still Day and celebrate a repurposed holiday marchers shut down Bigelow Boulevard Individuals who receive a suspicious help today.

— Indigenous Peoples Day. The crowd as they brought native people and their phone call they think might be a scam should Indigenous Peoples Day is the counmarched from Bigelow Boulevard outreport the call to the FBI’s Internet Crime supporters back to their indigenous side the William Pitt Union to the Chrisroots.

See Protest on page 2 Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov.

Protest, pg. 1 ter-holiday to Columbus Day, and is meant to celebrate the people native to the Americas — rather than Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explorer who was one of the first to colonize North America. For Ruth Martial, the lead organizer of the event and member of Indigenize Pittsburgh, the group that organized the march, celebrating Columbus Day is like celebrating the violence, genocide and sexual assault that Columbus and other early colonizers inflicted on native people.

“People ask, ‘What are you celebrating? What does it mean?’” Martial, 32, and of mixed European and Hodinöhsö:ni‘, or Iroquois, descent, told the crowd. “I don’t even think there’s a debate about Columbus — I’m tired of hearing about him.”

Minneapolis, Minnesota was the first major city to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, when its city council voted on the measure in April 2014.

Pittsburgh City Council followed suit that same year in December, when Pittsburgh community members protested the celebration of Columbus Day. it voted to recognize Oct. 12, as IndigNikki Moriello VISUAL EDITOR

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October 13, 2015

enous Peoples Day “in order to promote tolerance, understanding and friendship, and to overcome prejudice and eliminate discrimination stemming from colonization.”

Kent Bey, 45, from the Hill District, usually celebrates the day at small gatherings with family and friends, but said this year was more about educating people in the general public.

“I support indigenous rights and self determination,” Bey said. “A lot of us have an interest in being here. Columbus Day hides who we are.”

Kai Pang, a senior philosophy and economics major, had the opportunity to speak to the crowd about supporting Unist’ot’en, an indigenous clan in Canada working to stop oil and gas corporations from building pipelines through their land. The clan has maintained its original legal system and culture, and calls upon other indigenous people to show their solidarity in the fight against industrial companies. Pang learned about the camp See Protest on page 3

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Protest, pg. 2 from a friend this summer, and has spent the fall working to find tangible ways to help them.

The crowd posed with a banner reading “Solidarity with Unist’ot’en from Pittsburgh,” and Martial passed around a bucket for donations.

“When we talk about social justice, a large topic is intersectionality, the idea that all our fights are together,” Pang said.

“It was very humbling feeling the energy from so many people, both celebratory and angry.”

As the marchers turned their backs on the Columbus statue, Vanessa German read a poem, instructing the crowd to imagine a world where everyone danced instead of going to war.

As German spoke, she ignored the statue of Columbus and focused instead on the faces of the people in front of her.

“People smiled and laughed. They were using their imaginations, I could tell,” German said. “When people start imagining, you fill in the blanks with reality.”

Last year, the group held the march Downtown. For Martial’s first year in charge of the march, she wanted a more central location where the group could engage more students and partner with Conflict Kitchen.

Conflict Kitchen, Indigenize Pittsburgh and the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum partnered to provide indigenous food of the Seneca people for sale at Conflict Kitchen on Oct. 12 and 13.

Indigenize Pittsburgh chose to partner with the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum since Pittsburgh is located on Seneca land, and the New York museum is the Seneca’s “home community,” according to Martial.

The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca, New York sent two native women from the Seneca-Iroquois community to cook traditional foods, such as onohgwa’ — corn soup — with nine staff members from Conflict Kitchen.

Clara Gamalski, a food studies masters student at Chatham University and

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Conflict Kitchen employee, spent 11 hours in the kitchen preparing the food.

According to Gamalski, they first boiled ashes before putting in the corn, and then rinsed the stalks for hours on end. The ash creates an alkaline solution that gives the corn more nutritional value, reduces toxins and improves the flavor.

“Before yesterday, I was already super glad it was a project. After yesterday, I had a greater appreciation of the importance of cultural preservation through food,” Gamalski said. “I will never think

of corn in the same way.”

The indigenous food drew a lot of attention, and Dawn Weleski, co-owner of Conflict Kitchen, said the restaurant is considering a longer iteration of the same foods.

“As we’ve done in the past, we’ve tried to deconstruct and complicate the narrative of underrepresented voices, and to do that we had to go directly to the source,” Weleski said.

The menu included onohgwa’, ganyohsok — boiled and mashed squash — and

October 13, 2015

sautauthig — oatmeal blueberry pudding — among other dishes.

In the future, Martial hopes Indigenize Pittsburgh will host a traditional parade with different organizations represented on floats. For now, she is happy with the progress the group has made, but said she will keep fighting to make a better world for her five year old son, who is also of mixed descent.

“I want to create a place for my son to live where they do not celebrate the deaths of people like [my son],” Martial said.

3

Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Gambling: Inefficient way to solve PA budget crisis One hundred seven days into the fiscal year without a budget, it’s safe to say that Gov. Tom Wolf is having a difficult time working with Republicans in Harrisburg.

The main talking point over this budgetless time frame? What else? Taxes.

Wolf has proposed property and income tax increases to balance Harrisburg’s current budget deficit, but he faces strong resistance from Republicans. Last Wednesday lawmakers voted down the latest Wolf budget, 127 to 73. That budget proposal would have raised the personal income tax from 3.07 to 3.57 percent and place an extraction tax on natural gas drillers.

House Republicans, however, are looking for alternative ways to fund the government — and expanding gambling operations for the third time in six years is one of the top proposed options.

“I think we need to have a discussion first on what other revenues are on the table,” said House Majority Leader Dave Reed, RInd., as reported Monday in an article by The Post-Gazette. “We need to come to a conclusion on liquor reform. We need to address cost drivers like our pension system. We need to look at gaming options.”

Such expansions could include allowing casinos to offer Internet

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gambling to Pennsylvanians, as well as allowing casinos to station slot machines at Pennsylvania’s international airports.

Pennsylvania shouldn’t have to rely on gambling — an unsustainable and inconsistent form of revenue — because of Republicans’ stubborn clinging to ideology, especially when it comes at the expense of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable.

According to a 2014 study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions, people within low-income areas are affected most by gambling. The study found that, of nearly 5,000 individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods, ages 14 to 90, more than 11 percent of residents were problem gamblers. Comparatively, the study found only a 5 percent rate of problem gambling in neighborhoods that ranked in the top one-fifth of communities based on economic advantage.

The study’s co-author and Research Institute senior research scientist John W. Welte, PhD, told the clinical magazine, Addiction Professional, that lower-income people are more prone to gambling more because they “Do not see many role models of financial success achieved through conventional means. Therefore, gambling may be viewed as one of the few opportunities for financial ad-

vancement, and perhaps provides the lure as a means for easily gaining money.”

This effect could be especially prominent in Pittsburgh, where 20.4 percent of residents fell below the poverty line in 2013, as compared to 11 percent of total Pennsylvania residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data.

The theory follows a 2006 survey of 1,000 Americans by Opinion Research Corporation for the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association, which found that 21 percent of Americans believed that the lottery “would be their most effective and practical strategy for accumulating several hundred thousand dollars.”

Clearly then, the state only benefits from expanding gambling services by preying on the misfortune of the financially insecure.

In fact, it could be a large reason why gambling has historically not brought in large revenues for Pennsylvania in the first place.

When Harrisburg legalized gambling in bars in 2013, lawmakers estimated the resulting taxes would bring about $150 million a year to the state treasury, according to The Post-Gazette.

Find the full story online at

pittnews.com October 13, 2015

Gun-free zones make Americans defenseless Marlo Safi Columnist

It seems like every other week, a shooter walks into a public meeting space and opens fire.

Just this Friday, Northern Arizona University and Texas Southern University had shootings that claimed the lives of one student from each university. The week before, in Roseburg, Oregon, Umpqua Community College lost nine of its students in a mass shooting.

In response to the unsettling frequency of such events, politicians are thinking of ways to mitigate these atrocities. Left-leaning politicians, like President Obama, suggest tightening gun regulations — their logic being, less guns will bring less mass shootings.

Yet, one thing is clear about the recent mass shootings — the victims had no way to defend themselves.

Rather than disarming Americans, we should abolish gun-free zones that make Americans unable to defend themselves and others. We must allow responsible citizens who surpassed the current process of background checks to feel safe from de-

ranged shooters who target defenseless people.

According to the Crime Prevention Resource Center, a staggering 92 percent of shootings happen in gun-free zones such as schools and churches. There is clear evidence from some of the most infamous shootings showing the shooters had targeted places free of armed guards and armed people.

Time and time again, we see places with higher gun regulations continue to have shootings and violent crime.

Take Chicago, for instance.

You can’t even find a gun shop in Chicago because they’ve all been outlawed. Yet, despite the extreme gun laws in Chicago, nearly 2,400 people have been shot this year.

Similar to Chicago is Australia. In response to a 1996 mass shooting in Tasmania, where Martin Bryant killed 35 people, the Australian government bought nearly one million guns back from armed Australian citizens in a mandatory gun buy-back program.

One would think that with no guns, Australia would see a reduction in crime — yet, it saw See Safi on page 5

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Safi, pg. 4 the contrary.

After the gun ban, serious crimes in Australia skyrocketed. Manslaughter, sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery and unarmed robbery peaked following the ban — according to the Australian government’s data — all of which could have been prevented if the victims had guns to defend themselves.

Plus, despite the ban, armed robbery constitutes 27 percent of crimes being committed in Australia, suggesting criminals have been able to acquire guns regardless.

Australia is an example of what happens when politicians take guns from lawabiding citizens. Albeit extreme, the Australian mass gun buyback demonstrates a populace defenseless against crime.

Take the recent Charleston, South Carolina, shooting when Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Emmanuel Church this June, for example.

According to an Associated Press article from June 19, Christon Scriven — who claimed to be friends with Roof — said that the shooter had expressed that he had originally planned to attack College of Charleston, but, upon learning of the security, he instead chose a church.

“I don’t think the church was his primary target because he told us he was going for the school,” Scriven told the Associated Press. “But I think he couldn’t get into the school because of the security ... so I think he just settled for the church.”

Similarly, Elliot Rodger — the man who fatally shot three people in Santa Barbara, California, last year — said in a 141page manifesto, that he ruled out certain targets because he was worried someone with a gun would end his killing spree prematurely, according to the The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

We see what happens when guns are banned completely. People are left defenseless, unable to protect themselves and their families. And criminals — despite the illegality of owning a gun or government regulations designed to make getting a gun more difficult —were still able to acquire them, like in the “gun-free”

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country of Australia.

Criminals — by definition — defy the law. They will acquire the means to commit crimes no matter what. So what happens when we arm law-abiding citizens?

After Michigan passed a Right to Carry law in 2001 — which allows those with a concealed carry permit to openly carry their firearm — the murder rate fell by four percent. Since Texas instituted its own Right to Carry law in 1996, the murder rate dropped an astounding 30 percent, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Not only are the statistics proving that less regulations along with Right to Carry laws contribute to less crime, but there is a feeling of safety in the presence of a responsible gun owner.

We rely on police, security guards or someone with a gun to rise to action in the event of anything from a robbery to a shooting.

Many times it takes police too long to respond to mass shooting situations, given that they are typically short-lasting and unexpected. According to a 2014 report from the FBI, 66.9 percent of mass shootings had ended before police even arrived at the scene and could engage the shooter.

“The only thing to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, in a public statement in response to the Sandy Hook shootings.

We can’t deny we live in a dangerous world. There are criminals among us, and we must be able to protect ourselves and those around us in a life-threatening situation. Although we can’t stop mass shootings from happening, we can mitigate the issue by abolishing gun-free zones, allowing responsible Americans to protect themselves and their families.

Too many tragic events prove that gunfree zones and less guns are not the answer — they only make victims out of defenseless people.

The Pitt News Editor-in-Chief DANIELLE FOX

Managing Editor HARRISON KAMINSKY

News Editor DALE SHOEMAKER

Opinions Editor BETHEL HABTE

newsdesk.tpn@gmail.com

tpnopinions@pittnews.com

Sports Editor DAN SOSTEK

Culture Editor JACK TRAINOR

tpnsports@gmail.com

aeeditors@gmail.com

Visual Editor NIKKI MORIELLO

Layout Editor EMILY HOWER

pittnewsphoto@gmail.com

tpnlayout@gmail.com

Online Editor STEVEN ROOMBERG

Copy Chief MICHELLE REAGLE

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Elizabeth Lepro | Assistant News Editor Lauren Rosenblatt | Assistant News Editor Nick Voutsinos | Assistant Opinions Editor Chris Puzia | Assistant Sports Editor Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor Danah Bialoruski | Assistant Layout Editor Sydney Harper | Multimedia Editor Jenna Stearns | Social Media Editor

Katie Krater | Assistant Copy Chief

editor@pittnews.com

manager@pittnews.com

Copy Staff Bridget Montgomery Anjuli Das Sierra Smith Sydney Mengel Sarah Choflet Kelsey Hunter

Matthew Maelli Kyleen Pickaring Casey Talay Corey Forman Alex Stryker Maria Castello

Editorial Policies Single copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each.

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration.

Opinions expressed in columns, cartoons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any.

Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com.

The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left.

The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and

Marlo Safi primarily writes about public policy and politics for The Pitt News.

Write to Marlo at mes26@pitt.edu

October 13, 2015

student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is pub lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer.

Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University staff, fac ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito rial offices of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

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5

Culture

supporting the scene:

diy music promoters showcase underground acts A crowd gathers for a show at The Mr. Roboto Project in Lawrenceville. COURTESY OF BRETT SHUMAKER

AJ Weber

For The Pitt News Most nights begin with the sound of a guitar tuning up, amplified feedback and the grin of a performer before strumming a chord.

The routine is wonderfully common to Nate Dietrich and Brett Shumaker, the founders and operators of the DIY music promotion group, Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! Nearly every weekend the two live-music enthusiasts book and organize live-music events for bands local to Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas, as well as small touring acts that aim to permeate Pittsburgh’s underground music scene.

Many of these shows take place right in Oakland, in converted buildings-turned-venues.

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“Our shows typically take place anywhere we can find, really,” Dietrich said. “There’s a lot of DIY art spaces. There’s a lot of spaces in Oakland — houses in Lawrenceville as well.

Bars, houses ... anywhere we can find a home for these shows.”

Students can find shows close to campus at People’s Warehouse on Juliet Street, Sharkweek on Zulema Street and the Bates Hardcore Gym on Bates Street. Many other shows aren’t much further away, like The Mr. Roboto Project — a non-profit, cooperatively-run venue in Garfield — The Night Gallery, a Lawrencevillebased horror-art gallery — and City Grows — an urban gardening shop used for DIY acoustic shows in Upper Lawrenceville.

According to Dietrich, Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! is one of the 15 to 20 music promoters in Pittsburgh that aim to keep the

city’s various underground music scenes flourishing. Shumaker, the original founder of the organization, started his promotional work in 2007. As both a former touring musician and promoter, Shumaker sought to find a way to help grow the music scenes he’d been involved in as a performer since age 13, playing in a variety of bands. Now 22, the Pittsburgh native plays in the bands DIVORCE., Killing Thing and Fake Grave, while simultaneously booking shows through Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! “I was in a band — and I was booking our shows. The band ended up breaking up, but I just wanted to keep booking shows. And that’s pretty much how this started,” he said.

Not long after beginning the project on his own, Shumaker and Dietrich joined forces after attending each other’s shows during their

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days as touring musicians. Now — eight years later — they’re booking weekend shows, confirming dates with venues, finding local bands to fit the bill and promoting each show on social media and around town.

They draw crowds from all over Pittsburgh by booking overlapping genres, ranging anywhere between indie rock to emo. Much of the promotion happens on their Facebook page, where the two post upcoming events nearly every day with homemade posters announcing the acts. Shumaker and Dietrich estimate they put on one to three shows a week, depending on the season.

When it comes to organizing the shows, Dietrich and Shumaker book specific genres individually, according to their respective See Promoters on page 8

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Space oddity: ‘the martian’ rewrites galactic genre Valkyrie Speaker Staff Writer

The Martian

B+

Starring: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels Directed by: Ridley Scott Space may be an empty void, but that doesn’t mean films about space have to be.

“The Martian” launched into theatres with a staggering opening gross of over $54 million, and has been orbiting the top of the box office since its release. This could be be-

T P N S U D O K U

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cause of its impressive cast — which includes Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover and Matt Damon — but what’s more notable is the film’s fresh take on space.

Who would have thought that Ridley Scott, the mind behind broodingly violent space flicks like “Alien” and “Prometheus” would take a left turn and make a light-hearted space adventure? Though “The Martian” maintains the beautiful visuals and atmosphere of his previous works, Scott weaves humor between intense and thrilling suspense sequences.

The film is based on Andy Weir’s 2011 novel of the same name, and follows NASA astronaut and botanist Mark Watney (Damon).

When a martian storm sweeps over the landing site of their ship, Ares III, and incapacitates Mark, his crew is forced to leave Mars and return to Earth without him — leaving

Mark to sur vive by his w i t s alone.

I w a s n’t expecting much when the lights in the theater dimmed — I sat through the latest drama-heavy space blockbusters, “Gravity” and “Interstellar,” and was tired of the helplessness portrayed in each. But the reliance on plausible technology and methods of rescue was a breath of fresh air, especially for a

TNS Ridl e y Scott project.

While this film is characterized as science fiction, the science that takes place seems infallible. It eliminates the distraction of silly See The Martian on page 8

Today's difficulty level: Very Hard Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

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The Martian, pg. 7 and unoriginal notions of space travel and technology.

Mark, using his expert knowledge of botany, creates his own fertilizer and water chamber to grow potatoes to last the 4+ years it would take for a rescue to arrive. Glover’s character, a genius astrodynamicist by the name of Rich Purnell, discovers a simple way to send Ares III back to Mars without having to land — by using the gravitational pull of Earth to send the ship back on its course to Mark. While Neil deGrasse Tyson might have some objections, the plot is simple enough for the audience to follow along — the anti-“Interstellar.”

The chemistry between the secondary characters deserves attention as well, and so do their individual performances. Daniels, a wellknown comedy actor, didn’t let his reputation outshine him — he delivered the role of NASA President Teddy Sanders with all the intensity expected of a man in his position.

Jessica Chastain also shined as Captain Melissa Lewis of the Ares III. She displayed heartbreaking guilt when giving the order to leave Mars and utter dedication when the possibility

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of a rescue arose.

The interactions between Teddy, Melissa and Mark seemed to flow naturally, as if — instead of a script — they were experiencing the events in real time. The conversations between Mark and the Ares III, for example, were organically calm despite the life-or-death stakes — more like actual, professional astronauts than Hollywood actors.

Mark faces numerous setbacks while waiting for his rescue — the only times Damon shows frustration in an amazingly believable performance, certainly one of his best. We felt his pride as he gallivanted around his newly budding crops, saying, “I’m the greatest botanist on this planet,” and his devastation when a busted airlock sucked the life from the same plants. Despite this, he remained light-hearted — always joking about his fate and death, which is a huge contrast between the film and its darker, less enjoyable counterparts.

Scott has found a winning formula in mixing space’s gravity with humor, particularly in Damon. In a time when Hollywood is oversaturated with math problems and space cowboys, “The Martian” brings the genre down to Earth.

Promoters, pg. 6 tastes.

“Nate and I kind of have our different styles,” Shumaker said. “I do a lot of punk, pop-punk and folk punk. Nate does a lot more of the hardcore stuff, or emo.”

The two agree that much of the time their own music preferences overlap, which draws in a wide range of audience members, from middle schoolers to working professionals.

Though much of those who make up the crowd are returning devotees, a significant number of audience members come out to experience the scene for the first time.

Don Doerfler, a junior mechanical engineering major at Pitt, had only been to one Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! show before seeing the Michigan soul-punk band, Jake Simmons, and The Little Ghosts at Howlers bar in Lawrenceville earlier in the month, but was pleased to return to another of the group’s shows.

“The environment is really inviting. It’s easy to feel comfortable,” Doerfler said. “What’s cool is you don’t really have to know the bands to have a good time. You can just relax and listen, and even then someone’s likely to start a conver-

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sation with you.”

But it’s not only the attendees that enjoy the experience. Perhaps the biggest supporters of the DIY promotion group are the musicians themselves.

Jake Stern, who graduated from Pitt last spring with a philosophy degree and plays in the folk-rock band Meridian, sees Shuman and Dietrich’s success extending past the shows.

“Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! has just been incredibly supportive of us,” Stern said, who frequently plays in Don’t Let The Scene Go Down On Me! shows with both Meridian and his other band, The Otis Wolves. “They really see the merit in helping out these smaller touring acts. What sets them apart too is that their shows seem to really be mostly about the music — rather than just partying. It’s accessible, and a welcoming environment.”

On top of the support and opportunities the organization provides to musicians, Stern said each show is well-promoted and comes equipped with necessary equipment, like amplifiers.

“They give people the opportunity to host shows when they might not necessarily have the means to,” Stern said.

8

Sports

Fisher brings experience, leadership to Pitt volleyball

Jessie Wallace Staff Writer

By 2013, Dan Fisher already had a packed resume.

He had completed his collegiate volleyball career at University of the Pacific, participating on the U.S. men’s national team. He coached at four different college programs, compiling an undefeated season at one of them. He served as the offensive coordinator on the 2012 gold medal-winning women’s Pan American Cup team.

With those achievements in tow, he decided to bring his talents to Oakland, becoming the eighth head coach in Pitt women’s volleyball team history.

Since, he has added on to his career accolades, revitalizing a stagnant program — he brought the Panthers to the brink of an NCAA tournament berth, and eventually served as the 2015 head coach of the U.S. national team in the Pan American games.

After two successful seasons at Pitt — and a third promising campaign underway, Fisher has his program poised for postseason appearances and individual accolades in the future.

But his career on the court began years ago on the opposite end of the country.

As an athletic, skinny 6-foot-3 male who grew up playing volleyball in Santa Barbara, California, where the sport is prominent due to perpetual sunshine and warmth and an abundance of beaches, Fisher’s “immersion” into the volleyball world happened naturally. Through

his earlier playing days, Fisher had dreamt of one day playing professionally — and eventually, becoming a coach. Needless to say, he surpassed both of those goals in multiple facets.

After playing at Pacific, Fisher earned a spot as fourth-string setter for the U.S. men’s national volleyball team from 1999-2001. Fisher described the experience as a “tremendous honor.”

“I was a good player, I wasn’t great,” Fisher said. “I was good enough to play professionally for five years, and, in those summers, I was either playing with the national team or playing professionally on the beach. It was a phenomenal experience, I made some great friends and obviously got to play the game at a really high level.”

Fisher didn’t just represent his country as a player, though.

Some time after serving as an assistant in the 2012 PanAm games and taking the job at Pitt, Fisher received a call from the U.S. national Olympic team head coach Karch Kiraly. After some discussion, Fisher realized Kiraly wasn’t offering him another assistant role.

“It kind of became clear to me after five minutes that it was me who he was asking to be the head coach. He said he wanted me to lead the team and said that with our success here, that he’s seen how we’ve done with this program and as well as my familiarity with the system were kind of the factors.”

Fisher and the U.S. team went 5-1 and won gold in the July competition, beating Brazil with a three-set sweep.

“... you can only trust what he’s teaching is the best of the best” -Amanda Orchard

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Dan Fisher has brought stability and success to Pitt volleyball. Jeff Ahearn ASSISTANT VISUAL EDITOR

Following international coaching success, Fisher’s focus returned to the collegiate game, as he prepared for Pitt’s 2015 season.

Fisher has proven to be the high-quality coach that his résumé would suggest.

In his first season with the Panthers — and their first season in the ACC — Fisher managed to win 19 of 33 games. It was the highest number of wins in a single season since 2009.

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He led the team to achieve its highest kill-perset ratio, total kills, assists-per-set ratio, total assists and total aces percentages since 2009 as well. He helped the Panthers improve from a .548 conference winning percentage in 2012, to a .576 percentage in 2013.

With a successful volleyball enthusiast like See Volleyball on page 10

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Volleyball, pg. 9 Fisher to learn from every day, assistant coach Lindsey Campbell has relished in the opportunity to work with Fisher for the last five years, a relationship that began when the two coaches worked together at Concordia, Campbell’s alma mater.

The highlight of that Concordia run was the 2012 season in which they won the NAIA women’s National Championship, going 38-0 on the season.

“I have learned so much just from him being a part of USA volleyball and just in general,” Campbell said. “Going from NAIA to Division 1, like the demands and what you need to do to win.”

There have been several occasions when Campbell has witnessed a “great coach in action” — one particular instance remains fresh in Campbell’s mind.

“When we just lost to Virginia. A reffing call could have made us go into the fifth set, and it could’ve made the difference,” Campbell said.

“But the way Dan handled the team talk afterwards, I just remember walking out of there and thinking ‘Yeah, that’s a great leader in there.’”

For Fisher, having a close friend and good coach come with him facilitated the transition from California to Pennsylvania.

“Lindsey is one of my family now,” Fisher said. “The single biggest thing when I came here was, you know, I had to hire a new staff. I was building all these new relationships, and so it was

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critical having someone like Lindsey here so I didn’t have to start a new relationship with her.

She understands me and what I want to do.”

Fisher’s players have bought in to what he “wants to do.”

“I think he’s really motivated with everything he does, and, you know, he really loves volleyball — he really loves coaching,” senior hitter Amanda Orchard said. “He’s also honest with his players. That’s one of the best things about him. You never don’t know where you stand, there’s never anything sketchy going on. I think he’s honest, and that’s really good.”

Orchard had been on Pitt’s team for one season before Fisher became the head coach in January of her freshman year, following a season under the direction of Toby Rens.

As for the transition between coaches, she could not have been more thankful for the new, highly-experienced head coach — who would eventually assist her in becoming a first team AllACC selection.

“I’m so grateful, I mean, he coached a U.S. team,” Orchard said. “That’s crazy to be able be a player of a coach who coached for the U.S. national team. I mean, all I can say is I’m grateful he’s taught me so much. I couldn’t be happier to be in this program.”

Orchard said her coach’s career accomplishments speak for themselves.

“He’s done so much with volleyball that you can only trust that what he’s teaching is the best of the best,” Orchard said. “He motivates me to be the best that I can be in more than just volleyball.”

Pitt football NOTEBOOK: WEEK six Jeremy Tepper

Senior Staff Writer In Pitt’s 26-19 win over Virginia on Saturday, ball security and missed opportunities held the Panthers back from a bigger victory.

Both of those issues have plagued Pitt in past games against Georgia Tech — next week’s opponent — particularly in last year’s 56-28 loss, a game in which the Panthers lost six fumbles. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi addressed the miscues, as well as his history with the triple-option offense — the scheme the Yellow Jackets use — on Monday during his weekly press conference.

History with the triple option There was a time last season when some expected Michigan State — where Narduzzi was serving as defensive coordinator — to face off against the Georgia Tech in a bowl game.

In that span, Michigan State’s graduate assistants spent substantial time breaking down tape in preparation. The team, on the other hand, did not prepare much before eventually being selected to play in the Cotton Bowl against Baylor.

“We probably spent two days. We had

October 13, 2015

one practice before we got moved over to the Cotton Bowl,” Narduzzi said.

That brief foray into preparation for Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense — which uses three potential runners instead of two — was Narduzzi’s first game planning for a triple-option offense since 2003, when he planned for Ohio University as the defensive coordinator for Miami (Ohio).

Before that, in his time as the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Rhode Island — from 1993-1999 — he prepped for Delaware, which ran a similar offense to Georgia Tech.

For Narduzzi’s relatively recent inexperience with the offensive scheme, defensive coordinator Josh Conklin is quite familiar with the triple option, as Wofford and The Citadel both ran the offense while he was on their coaching staffs from 2007 to 2009 and 2010 to 2011, respectively.

“I think he practiced against it every day, so he does have knowledge. That’s why he’s the authority coach this week,” Narduzzi said.

Find the full story online at

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Undergrads needed to test tutoring system: 18 or older, native English speaker, adequate academic background as determined by a brief questionnaire. 2-5 hrs; $10/hr., possible $20 bonus. Contact rimac@pitt.edu ATTENTION OCCASIONAL SMOKERS! UPMC seeks healthy adults ages 18-65 who occasionally smoke cigarettes.

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