June 14, 2017 | Volume 108 | issue 6
The Pitt News
PITTSBURGH CELEBRATES PRIDE contr ^
Henry Glitz News Editor
When Pittsburghers gathered for the city’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade Sunday, they probably expected the marchers to toss candy and wave rainbow flags — but they got their fair share of political chants slung their way as well. The circumstance of two parades came as the result of fundamental disagreements within Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ community itself about comfortability with corporatiza-
tion. The Delta Foundation, an organization dedicated to advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, and the parade’s organizers, announced in January that naming rights for the annual parade would be given to the EQT Corporation. Some activists decided to organize a “People’s Pride” to follow immediately behind in the path of the EQTsponsored parade, criticising the corporate influence on the parade, EQT’s fracking and their history of donating to politicians who have supported anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
oversial
While stirring up some controversy this year because of its corporate sponsorship, the original parade remained the largest and most visible event for the LGBTQ+ community in the city during the weekend’s Pride celebrations. Point Park sophomore Emerson Andrews emphasized the importance of community in choosing to attend the See Pride on page 3
News
On the cover: Members of 10,000 Caftans dance on Grant Street during the EQT Equity March Sunday John Hamilton EDITOR IN CHIEF
interactive crime map online
Coaches top salary disclosures Michaels Henry Glitz
included on next year’s disclosure. Other top earners included Pitt School of Medicine Dean Arthur Levine, who earned $1,104,494, former Pitt’s annual financial disclosure, which it released Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, who received $831,344, last month in compliance with the Right to Know Law, and current Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, who received revealed a pay structure with University athletics once $741,485 total compensation in his first full year of emagain at the top. ployment at Pitt. The University, Pitt did not answer which legally qualifies questions about former as a non-profit organiChancellor Nordenzation exempt from tax, berg’s compensation, nevertheless must still who retired as chancelfile a publicly available lor in 2014. 990 report with the InUniversity trustee ternal Revenue Service. Edward Grefenstette The report discloses received a combined some of Pitt’s finan$1,343,890 in compencial activities, officer sation from organizasalaries and 25 highest tions related to the paid non-officers. Last University. Grefenstette month’s report dealt is president, CEO and specifically with fiscal CIO of the Dietrich year 2016, lasting from Foundation, a charity July 1, 2015 to June 30, organization that pro2016. vides financial support Former head coach regional institutes of of the men’s baskethigher learning. ball team Jamie Dixon The report also once again appeared disclosed the Univerat the top of the list sity’s interactions with of Pitt’s highest paid independent contracemployees, receivtors. Unsurprisingly, ing $2,317,223 in total food service provider gross income from the Sodexo received the University during the highest compensation, 2016 financial year. Pitt at $35,020,173. Two of football coach Pat Narthe other top five highduzzi received the next est paid contractors — highest salary, totalTop: Gallagher made $741,485 in the 2016 fiscal year PITT BPA II and the Mascaro ling $1,768,841 in total NEWS FILE PHOTO Construction Company gross income over the Bottom: Former men’s basketball Coach Jamie Dixon — fell into the category same period. was Pitt’s highest-paid employee during the fiscal year of of construction comCurrent head coach 2016. Theo Schwarz SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER panies, underlying the of the men’s basketball focus on new building team Kevin Stallings projects around campus during fiscal year 2016. These didn’t appear on the report because he wasn’t yet a Unitwo companies received $9,767,101 and $9,123,772, reversity employee by the end of fiscal year 2016. Pitt has spectively. not yet released Stallings’ salary, though he will likely be
News Editor
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June 14, 2017
fired after charges John Hamilton Editor in Chief
Edward Michaels has been dismissed from Pitt, according to a University spokesperson, after he was charged with possessing child pornography on May 24. Michaels is the former director of Pitt’s counseling center, a position he held since June 2015. Immediately following his arrest, Pitt placed Michaels on leave and assured students that “the services provided by our staff in the University Counseling Center will continue unabated” in a statement that is now removed from the counseling center’s website. Marian Vanek, the director of Student Health Service, is currently supervising the center, according to Pitt spokesperson Joe Miksch, who added that the center is “fully staffed at the service provision level.” Michaels started a task force he said would address the mental health needs of Pitt students when he was hired. The results of their survey, which he shared with The Pitt News in September 2015, found students’ highest priorities related to suicide prevention. Miksch said the task force’s work will continue. Allegheny County police arrested Michaels on charges of possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communications facility. According to a police criminal complaint, a Wilkinsburg police sergeant found child pornography in his home on March 27 after the police received a tip. The sergeant seized two laptops, two memory sticks and several hundred loose photos. County detectives reviewed the evidence April 13 and found sexually explicit photos of what appeared to be prepubescent girls, according to the complaint. Pitt has not yet provided information regarding a search for a new director. Michaels’ preliminary hearing was postponed and is now scheduled for July 20.
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Pride, pg. 1 larger parade. “There’s sort of an immediate confidence boost, being out and unapologetic,” Andrews said. “It’s a space where you can unapologetically be yourself.” The Delta Foundation-organized event comprised more than just a parade. Portions of Downtown were closed off from traffic both Saturday and Sunday for a variety of Pride-related activities, including carnival style booths up and down Liberty Avenue and a performance Saturday night by musician Jennifer Hudson. Announcers during the EQT march itself suggested that this year’s Pride parade was one of the best attended in the event’s history in Pittsburgh. But while many chose the Delta Foundation’s parade because of its popularity and vibrancy, some sympathized strongly with the message that the People’s Pride parade was sending. “It’s important for them to incorporate this into other parts of their business practices,” Andrews said. “When a corporate entity is saying they accept [the LGBTQ+ community], it’s another thing if they’re firing people for being trans.”
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Interspersed between floats featuring drag queens and huge rainbow flags, the event’s business backers joined in the parade as well, some in vehicles or floats and some with contingents of their employees marching on the street. Local businesses and organizations — like UPMC and Uber — had large groups of marchers. Chipotle handed out coupons from their float — a rented red tour bus topped off with dancers on the upper level. Ten thousand Caftans — a group of marchers wearing long, brightly colored tunics — closed out the EQT march, passing through Downtown about 30 minutes before the People’s March traveled on the same roads. Rather than dancing, many in the second march were chanting. Pitt senior Brian Murray attended the EQT parade Sunday but mentioned concerns about corporatization of LGBTQ+ events and movements and questioned the sincerity of corporate support. “I really like that [People’s Pride is] happening,” he said. “There are people who pay lip service to equality and don’t really care about the well-being of the community.” People’s Pride organizers sought and
received police permission for their parade and stressed that it wasn’t intended as a “confrontation” with other marchers. But many, including Mayor Bill Peduto and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, attended the EQT Equality March and not the other. The group explicitly criticized the Delta Foundation in a Facebook post announcing the decision to organize an alternate parade. “We recognize the history of Pride as an act of resistance and therefore we will march to bring attention to and hold Delta accountable for its historical exploitation and negligence towards our black and brown and trans people,” the group said. The People’s Pride rally, which had been planned and received a permit to walk an hour after the EQT Equality March started along the same route, confronted Pittsburgh City police dressed in riot gear on their way into downtown. A tense exchange ensued, during which marchers chanted, “We have a right to be on the sidewalk,” and, “We have a permit,” referencing the fact that the march was officially police-sanctioned. After a standoff of a few minutes, city
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police retired, allowing marchers to continue along their planned route and finish in Market Square around 2:30 p.m. As the marchers proceeded down Grant Street, politically charged chants rang out from the crowd. “Black trans lives matter,” and, “Our pride is not for sale,” chants rose up from the marchers — who were much less vibrantly dressed than the EQT crowd. Despite the differences in the marches, there appeared to be widespread acceptance among those involved that the Pride weekend shouldn’t be divisive within Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ community. “This march is about love, liberation, pride and spotlighting our marginalized communities,” SisTers PGH — the organization responsible for organizing the People’s Pride march — said in a press release following the confrontation with police. Murray also stressed the importance of Pride events, regardless of sponsorship, to LGBTQ+ Pittsburghers as a vital connection to the community. “Walking through Pittsburgh any day — you feel like you’re alone in all this,” he said. “It’s really easy to feel isolated. You’re not alone in all this.”
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Opinions column
from the editorial board
Pitt’s public funding should result in public accountability “Tell your elected officials: With Pitt, PA Wins.” So begins the University’s recent plea for students to lobby on its behalf for state funding. And while the statement is true — many of the state’s greatest achievements have come from Pitt, such as the recent development of a new HIV detector or the historic discovery of a vaccine for polio — Pitt is still grappling with transparency issues and hasn’t yet proved to students that things will change any time soon. Pennsylvania’s budget deadline is June 30, just a few weeks away. Right now, elected officials in Harrisburg are debating how much funding to allocate the state’s four state-related institutions — a unique designation that exists only in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pitt — along with its three sister schools of Penn State, Temple University and Lincoln University — receives state funding to help lower tuition costs. It does so in exchange for allowing the state to hold a minority representation on the school’s board of trustees as well as providing a discounted tuition rate for residents of the Commonwealth. State-related institutions operate under their own charters, are governed by independent boards of trustees and retain complete control of their assets. This is in contrast to public universities in Pennsylvania like Clarion University and Slippery Rock University, which now exist under the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. State-related universities like Pitt get taxpayer’s money, but their unique status allows them to hide information from the very people funding the institutions. State-related institutions also are mostly exempt from Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law, and only have to reveal a small amount of information, such as the 990 IRS form, salaries of their officers and the salaries of their top 25 highest-paid employees, as reported in today’s news section.
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But that’s it. Pitt isn’t legally required to make any information available beside this, which is why you can see the salaries of every PSSHE employee but only Pitt’s officers and top 25 earners, and why when The Pitt News submitted a Right to Know request for information regarding Pitt’s police force it was unsurprisingly denied. And state-related institutions’ exemptions from RTKL requirements have resulted in substantial transparency issues. Penn State was not legally required to release information pertaining to the infamous Jerry Sandusky case, and Temple University was not legally required to release information regarding its former trustee Bill Cosby. Sometimes, the RTKL exemptions for state-related institutions are seriously harmful to the rights of those that are affected by their scandals. Of course, these universities can’t be completely faulted for this. In theory, the change should start at the top, and Pennsylvania should amend the RTKL to fully cover staterelated like public institutions, while still preserving the benefits that state-related status holds. But if Pitt is truly asking us to lobby for funding on its behalf, it should not do so without making public exactly how it spends the state’s money. It’s, of course, not illegal for it not to, but rather, Pitt has the opportunity to lead a change in how state-related institutions treat their students. We agree — “With Pitt, PA wins.” Why doesn’t Pitt prove it to its students and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania? Editor’s note: The Pitt News will be collaborating with The Temple News and The Daily Collegian — the independent student newspapers of Temple and Penn State — on a series investigating what it means to be a state-related university. Write to editor@pittnews.com with questions or suggestions on what you’d like us to cover.
SPORTS JOURNALISM DESERVES FAIR FEMALE REPRESENTATION
Jordan Mondell
Contributing Editor It’s halftime during the Pitt versus Duke game at Heinz Field. The photo room is warm and abuzz with chatter — most Pittsburgh-based photographers know one another and are sharing inside jokes and quips as they upload their first half shots to their respective publications. I felt remarkably out of place for no discernible reason. I had covered plenty of other events where there were elite members of the photojournalism community. I even photographed two presidents. Pitt football was no big deal. It wasn’t until after the game — in the back seat of a Toyota Corolla full of other Pitt Newsers — that I realized. I was the only woman in that room. As surprised as I wanted to be, I wasn’t. In general, women are underrepresented in the field of photojournalism, let alone the boys club of sports photography. According to a study conducted by World Press Photo in 2015, 85 percent of working photojournalists are men. In my experience, the number of women working in sports journalism is even lower. Sarah Stier, a senior photojournalism student at Ohio University and sports photographer for the OU athletics department, has faced these issues head-on. In January of 2017, she wrote a column entitled “A Call for Action — Supporting Women in the Field of Sports Journalism.” It appeared on The Photo Brigade, a website where photojournalists congregate and share ideas and experiences relating to their field. The column soon made its rounds
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among the Facebook and Twitter feeds of journalists. It lays out Stier’s experiences as a photojournalist, from binge-watching the Olympics as a child to shooting them years later in Rio de Janeiro. “Lately I’ve become disenchanted with the way that I, and so many other women, have been treated in this field that we are each so passionate about,” she wrote. Stier’s portfolio is packed with impressive frames and high-profile coverage, but she still cites “unsettling experiences ... of blatant sexism” while working in the field. Among these, she cites one that occurred at an OU bowl game. Throughout the game, Stier was encouraged by members of the security staff to stand back from the field, afraid she could be hit by a rogue player. “They weren’t continually asking the male photographers to move back from the field,” Stier wrote. “I nearly lost my marbles.” Other areas of sports journalism aren’t so great for women, either. The number of female sports editors at 100 Canadian and American newspapers fell by almost half between 2012 and 2014 — from 17.2 percent to 9.8 percent. This disparity is alarming — especially for me — considering the amount of intelligent, dedicated, female student journalists I work with every day. These statistics make me question why women aren’t working in the field as much as men, and when they are, why they are being so limited in the work they are accomplishing. One possible conclusion: Harassment. In 2013, a study conducted by the See Mondell on page 5
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Mondell, pg. 4 International Women’s Media Foundation found that nearly two-thirds of female journalists had suffered some form of harassment at work. The lack of job security in the industry is also a leading cause of unreported harassment, for fear of retaliation in a business that relies so heavily on personal connections and professional networking. The feeling of intimidation and unbelonging is another reason women don’t delve into the world of sports journalism. Maura Razanauskas is a sophomore at Temple University, and one of only three women who write regularly for the sports desk at the daily student paper, The Temple News. I found Maura after tired attempts to find a female sports writer with the Post Gazette, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Columbus Dispatch — after an hour of searching, I found no women at these professional publications. Razanauskas explained that she got into sports writing because she came from a household where sports ruled. “I loved writing, I love sports, so writing sports was the perfect fit,” Razanauskas said. When attempting to join the field, she never actively thought about the disparity of women in sports Sarah Stier is a student photojournalist at Ohio University writing. That was, until she took an assignment covand has experienced sexism in the industry Courtesy of ering men’s basketball and realized she was the only Sarah Stier
woman at the press conference. Her experience was startlingly similar to mine — that still moment in the photography room. “It’s weird once you become aware of it,” Razanauskas said. “It’s kind of ... awkward.” There is hope for young female journalists, though, despite these shared experiences of awkwardness and unbelonging. In January, Getty Images introduced its first female sports photography internship. The year-long fellowship, hosted in London, offers college-aged women the opportunity to break into a field they may have otherwise not been able to break into. The internship follows the announcement of a broader partnership with Women’s Sport Trust, an organization that aims to challenge the way in which female athletes are portrayed in media and imagery. Though these are all steps in the right direction — into a future of gender equality in journalism — they will not count for anything unless women are encouraged to step onto that field. Hopefully this fall — along with a winning season — Pittsburgh media will send more women to Heinz Field that share my love of sports journalism. We can sit next to each other, too. Jordan is the Layout Editor for The Pitt News. Write to her at jem269@pitt.edu
The Pitt News SuDoku 6/14/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com
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Culture COOK ING U P M YSTERY:
Author Kathleen George ref lects on her recent book
Sarah Morris
“
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— that was my identity for a long time,” George said. George directed several big plays — “Uncle Vanya” and “Much Ado About Nothing” to name a few — for Pitt’s mainstage, which she describes as important points in her career. “Those were just amazing times with the casts Photo courtesy of Kathleen George
graduate writing class. George’s feedback to her peers in writing classes, according to Kinder, was exceptional. One hundred years after the Johnstown “In the workshops she was like a co-teacher. Flood, a fictional 104-year-old survivor feels sure I felt like the courses were being co-taught — if her twin sister is still alive and, once she reveals I sound like I’m a little bit in awe of her, I am. I this long-kept secret to two journalists, their always have been,” Kinder said. stories begin to impossibly entwine in Kathleen George’s “The Johnstown Girls.” George, a theater arts professor at Pitt, is 73 and grew up in Johnstown — something a reader may be able to guess from her book’s title. The book, initially out in hardback in 2012, was just released in paperback in May by The University of Pittsburgh Press — in time with the 128th anniversary of the flood, which was observed on May 31. Although George’s novel is fiction, the flood is not. According to the National Park Service, the South Fork Dam in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, failed on May 31, 1889, creating the Johnstown Flood that unleashed 20,000,000 tons of water and killed 2,209 people. The mystery novel is centered around the woman who may be the last living survivor of the Johnstown Flood and her and the journalists’ quest to find the woman’s twin sister. While “Johnstown Girls” is not George’s first book, it is the first idea she had for a book. George also has written several crime novels set in Pittsburgh such as “Simple,” “Hideout” and “The Odds” as well as “The Man in the Buick” — a collection of short stories. “Johnstown Girls came first. It was my first novel impulse,” George said. Kinder describes George’s crime procedural Chuck Kinder, a former English professor novels as some of the best he’s read in the genre, at Pitt, insists on George’s natural ability to tell a and praises her diverse body of work — the way story and her sense for narrative arcs. she has moved fluidly from short fiction to the“You could easily sit around a campfire and ater to her crime novels over the course of her listen to her stories forever,” Kinder said. career. In high school, George’s innate knack for tellGeorge’s natural gift for storytelling translates ing stories transformed into writing plays and to any form, including directing, which she took short fiction, which led to her becoming a creup after grad school. On the surface, directing a ative writing major at Pitt as an undergrad. play may seem starkly different from penning a Even after she went on to obtain a doctorate novel, but George would disagree. in theater arts at Pitt, George yet again returned “I became a director, which was my form of to Pitt for an MFA, where she was in Kinder’s writing for a while. Directing people on the stage For The Pitt News
You could easily sit around a campfire and listen to [Kathleen’s] stories forever. being really involved. I got such a feeling of love from everybody about themselves and about the work,” George said. With all of the crime and mystery novels George writes, one would think she partakes in wild activities like spelunking or urban exploration. But with George’s prolific nature, she simply doesn’t have the time. “I wish I had hobbies. I’m a workaholic and so basically I am always writing and cooking. I like to cook,” George said. George’s niece, Robin Taylor, can testify to that last bit about her aunt’s cooking — especially
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her penchant for Lebanese food. Taylor said that George often prepares Sunday dinners for the whole family. And her passion for cooking extends beyond the kitchen to her other passion — writing. “She tries to bring food into all of her books,” Taylor said. “She talks about the diners in Pittsburgh and the very friendly aspect of the servers.” Kinder concurs with George’s niece, adding that even though George’s books are fiction, they can act as a roadmap to Pittsburgh restaurants. Although a lot of the inspiration for George’s novels stems from her passion for cooking, the biggest influence for her writing comes from her late husband Hilary Masters. “He was a remarkable man in every way, and a writer — that’s how we met each other, at a writer’s party. He set quite a standard for himself — he published 17 books,” George said. “He was much admired in everything, and very humble about it, and he got up every morning and he wrote.” Kinder and his wife Diane threw the writer’s party responsible for George and Masters’ meeting. “We always take credit for them getting together,” Kinder said. “They remained a couple until Hilary passed away.” Masters passed away in 2015, but left a legacy behind. Kinder says that George and Masters’ biggest contribution to the writing community was how they always supported the artistic endeavors of others around them. But when it came to George’s own writing, it took time and growth for her to actually write “The Johnstown Girls” and find it in herself to see it through. George explained that she had to learn to really understand the plot to write the book. Through writing her other crime and mystery novels, she learned how plot worked until she was ready to revisit “The Johnstown Girls.” “Plot is very risky. You have to be bold — you have to have your characters try things,” George said. “I thought, you know, I teach this in theater, and at the same time, I stay away from plot — so I forced myself to write this mystery.” George has real connections to the writing, See Kathleen George on page 7
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Kathleen George, pg. 6 having grown up in Johnstown herself and hearing about the great flood when she was young — even if she didn’t pay so much mind to it at the time. But in 1976, George and her sister thought they might have lost their mother in a flood. Although their mother ultimately survived, George used her feelings of potential loss and grief to fuel her work. “I paid more attention to my mother talking about the 1936 flood, long after the 1889 flood. And then my sister and I experienced the fear that we’d lost our mother in the 1976 flood,” George said. “I got the feeling that I really wanted to write about my own story of recuperation and healing — that’s what it was about.” And a lot of the research George did for the novel was very personal. Though the novel is clearly extensively researched in terms of history and George read up on just about everything she could — including articles from the time the flood happened — she said that a lot of the research came in the form of talking to people. “I had a high school English teacher who we were all terrified of,” George said. “Years later, I went back, and she was so happy I did. She told me about her life and she became very alive to me, and she is a little part of my character Ellen.”
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Ellen, in the novel, is the still living, 104-yearold survivor of the flood. George’s research on people, combined with the research on the flood, forms a picture of much effort poured into the novel’s construction — effort that seems to consume much of George’s time. But even with so much work in her life, there is a softness that shows through — she would say it’s in her characters, who she is sympathetic and kind to. Kinder would say it’s in her genuine curiosity to know people — that she can learn someone’s life story in 20 minutes then recite it back to them. And Taylor would say it’s in how George helped her prepare for talent shows as a child — giving her choreography to “Guys and Dolls” and bringing her costumes to wear. In the end though, it all comes back to her work — work George wanted to do since she was a child, saying that she always wanted to be a writer. Even when she strayed away from writing after studying it in college, saying she felt foolish and like it would be impossible to write for a living, she came back to storytelling — in directing, in short stories and in novels — because it’s so essential to who she is. “I guess it’s kind of like getting all of your talk out of you — getting out all of those things that are whirling around,” George said. “Writers [...], they don’t want to waste any feeling.”
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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 student-managed news-
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Sports
Track & Field competes at nationals online
A Penguins fan celebrates after the team’s Stanley Cup repeat win Sunday. Matt Hawley STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
column
SNIDER NAMED GYMNASTICS HEAD COACH
Ryan Zimba Sports Editor
CROSBY & MALKIN:
from disappointment to dynasty Ryan Zimba Sports Editor
Early in the 2015-16 season, the Crosby-Malkin era was considered a disappointment. Now, it’s the best in Penguins history. When Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin came to Pittsburgh in 2005 and 2006, respectively, it marked a turnaround for an organization which had missed the playoffs every season since 2000-01, finishing last in the Atlantic Division each year. In the 2006-07 campaign, the team made its return to the postseason — losing in the first round — before making consecutive Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009, splitting the pair against the Detroit Red Wings. Since then, the team has made the playoffs every season and has reached the summit of the league. Last year, the Penguins won their fourth championship over the San Jose Sharks before repeating Sunday. Now, the Crosby-Malkin era has become the best in Penguins history. They have more than half of the team’s five Stanley Cup Championships, and the stars still have years to play before retirement. By the time it comes to an end, it might not only be the best in Pittsburgh history, but one of the best in all of the NHL. The team’s run to this year’s Stanley Cup Championship was unlikely for several reasons. No team had repeated as champions since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997-98. The team’s starting goaltender, rookie Matt Murray, was injured to start the postseason and leading defenseman Kris Letang was out since early April after having neck surgery. But even with the makeshift lineup, the Penguins found a way to survive and advance through the first two rounds of the playoffs thanks to former starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury starred in both series but
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was especially critical against the Washington Capitals, compiling a .921 save percentage over the seven games. He continued his strong play into the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Ottawa Senators, but gave up four goals on nine shots in the first period of game three. Murray — recovered from his injury — replaced him and rejuvenated the team on its way to the Cup. Now, the recent era of Penguins hockey is an overwhelming success, but for a while, it didn’t look like it would be. Just last year, the team was struggling mightily. On December 20, the team was 15-14-3 and in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division. Head coach Mike Johnston was fired eight days earlier, and new coach Mike Sullivan lost his first four games by an average of 2.75 goals. Some — including myself — thought the team was never going to win its second Stanley Cup with Crosby and Malkin. The 2009 championship seemed so far in the past, and the team hadn’t been back to the finals since. Sure, there were some legitimate excuses as to why the team failed to make it back for so long. Crosby’s concussion problems were at the top of the list. The issues started in 2011, when the star received two blows from the Capitals’ David Steckel and the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. The first — a blindside hit from Steckel in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field — didn’t knock Crosby out, but Hedman’s did. Crosby missed the remaining 48 games, as well as the first 20 of the 2011-12 season. After making his return, he played only eight games before sitting out another 40. These seasons had the potential to be some of Crosby’s best. Instead, they became the start of a trend of playoff heartbreak. See Crosby & Malkin on page 9
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Pitt gymnastics hired University of Arkansas Associate Head Coach Samantha Snider to be the third head coach in the history of the program Monday. Snider takes over for longtime coach Debbie Yohman, who retired in early May after 31 years with the Panthers. “We are thrilled to welcome Samantha Snider as the next head women’s gymnastics coach of the University of Pittsburgh,” Athletic Director Heather Lyke said in a press release. “Samantha is a dynamic leader who is full of passion and committed to building our gymnastics program the right way.” A 2008 graduate of Arkansas, Snider competed in two NCAA championships with the Razorbacks. In each of her four seasons, the program finished among the top 15 teams in the country. Shortly after graduation, she was made the program’s director of operations, where she served until she earned a spot on the coaching staff in 2012. Since then, she helped lead the team to five consecutive NCAA Regionals and was named the 2016 National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/ Women South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. “I am honored to be the new head coach for the University of Pittsburgh gymnastics program,” Snider said in the release. “I am excited to build on the success of the program and I am eager to get started.”
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Lyke hires EMU admin for new position
Ryan Zimba Sports Editor
Pitt Athletic Director Heather Lyke hired another administrator from Eastern Michigan University Tuesday, naming Chris Hoppe to a new position — executive associate athletic director for sport administration and student-athlete support services. Hoppe is the second upper administrator Lyke has brought over from EMU, joining Christian Spears, who was hired as the deputy director of athletics in May. Hoppe’s position is an addition to the Pitt administration, giving the athletic department three executive associate athletic directors. This will be his second job in Pittsburgh, as he was the assistant athletic director for NCAA compliance at nearby Robert Morris University from 2009-11.
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At Pitt, he’ll be in charge of NCAA Compliance, financial aid, and Title IX, among other responsibilities, according to a press release. “We are extremely excited to welcome Chris to our leadership team,” Lyke said. “I’m confident he will bring excellent ideas and a strong work ethic to help us build a culture of comprehensive excellence.” Hoppe was at EMU since 2011 as the senior associate athletic director for administration. In the role, he worked closely with Lyke as a sports administrator for 10 of the school’s varsity sports. “My family and I are incredibly excited to return to Western Pennsylvania,” Hoppe said. “We have witnessed firsthand the passion this region has for the University of Pittsburgh, and couldn’t be more pleased to play a role in the proud tradition of Pitt Athletics.”
Crosby & Malkin, pg. 8 The Penguins only made it to the conference finals once from 2010-2015,, losing to the Boston Bruins in a convincing sweep in 2013. In three other seasons, the team was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, largely because of Fleury’s playoff inconsistencies. And while many other teams would be content with that level of success, it wasn’t good enough for the Penguins. Not with Crosby, the best player in the league. Not with Malkin — arguably No. 2 — backing him up. Not with the veteran Fleury in net. This team was capable of so much more, and to walk away with only one championship would’ve been a huge waste of talent. Luckily, Sullivan came in and changed the organization’s mindset. Under Johnston, the Penguins were extremely conservative. With many offensively-gifted players like Crosby, Malkin and former Toronto Maple Leaf Phil Kessel, this strategy failed to get the best results. But, once Sullivan arrived, the strategy changed almost instantly. It showed late in the 2016 season and carried over to the playoffs, where the team outshot its opponents in 19 of 24 games. This time around was quite different though,
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as the team was outshot the majority of the time, including four of six games in the finals. They found a way to get it done though, elevating the Crosby-Malkin era to the No. 1 spot in Penguins history. Yes, this group is now even better than the 1990s teams with Mario Lemieux. The three championships of the Crosby-Malkin era are more than Lemieux’s two, and the team has also appeared in two more finals. So, is Crosby better than Lemieux? That’s a different conversation, but the two definitely deserve to be compared. They are by far the two most skilled players in Penguins history, but with years left in his career, Crosby can add to his already impressive resume and pass up Le Magnifique. Last season, I thought the Penguins were done winning Stanley Cups. Now, after back-toback championships, who knows what they can do. The team is expected to lose Fleury — who waived his no-movement clause Monday — to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL expansion draft, but with Murray and the core of the team returning, the future looks solid. Could there be a three-peat next year? It’s unlikely, but it’ll be surprising if the group isn’t in the conversation next April, because this is the best the team has ever been.
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