4-14-15

Vol. 105 Issue 150

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Pittnews.com

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Uncle Jimmy’s MONDAY NIGHT LIVE averts Kenan Thompson entertains Pitt Morgan left [SNL], so there was room permanent Andrew Fishman for another black guy.”

Staff Writer Thompson talked about social issues closure Most current college students grew up in addition to his marijuana use, includHarrison Kiminksy and Dale Shoemaker The Pitt News Staff After closing its doors Friday morning, South Oakland watering hole Uncle Jimmy’s revived itself late Friday night.

The Allegheny County Treasury Department temporarily closed Uncle Jimmy’s, on Semple Street, because the] owners had failed to pay its alcoholic beverage tax.

In one lump sum, Uncle Jimmy’s repaid the county the $15,304 in beverage taxes, treasurer John Weinstein said on Monday.

“The thing with the drink tax is, it’s not [Uncle Jimmy’s] money. It’s the patron’s money that is supposed to go to the county,” Weinstein said.

Uncle Jimmy’s still owes the county $21,855 in property taxes, according to Weinstein, which the county is “actively pursuing.”

On Friday, the Allegheny County Sheriff ’s Department enforced the decision to close the bar on Semple Street, changing the door locks and listing much of the property inside for sale. A sheriff ’s sale — now canceled, Weinstein said — was set for May 11 at 10:30 a.m., according to a sign posted by the department on the building.

According to an Allegheny County Health Department 2014 inspection, Susan Connors is listed as the owner of Uncle Jimmy’s. However, after multiple attempts Friday afternoon, throughout the weekend and Monday afternoon, The Pitt News was unable to reach Connors or a representative from the bar by the phone number listed on the inspection report, Facebook and Google. According to a 2008 obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Con-

Closure

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in the ’90s and vividly remember the days of VHS tapes, Dunkaroos and significantly funnier television shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

On Monday, students reconnected with one of their ’90s icons, Kenan Thompson, who is now armed with a more adult arsenal of jokes.

“I don’t know if you know this or not ... but when you smoke weed, Taco Bell is delicious,” Thompson said in his stand-up routine, attended by approximately 450 students, at the William Pitt Union. Pitt Program Council sponsored the event.

References to the drug would become a staple of his one-hour act.

Thompson, 36, was one of the stars of 1990s Nickelodeon shows “All That” and “Kenan and Kel,” and he is now a senior cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” Better known for his sketch comedy, Thompson provided a humorous runthrough of his eclectic career.

Thompson has dipped into all corners of entertainment — from fried chicken commercials that he called “racist as hell” to movies like “Heavyweights” and “The Mighty Ducks.”

Thompson has found his niche in 30 Rockefeller Plaza and is now in his 12th season on “SNL,” the longest ever for an African American cast member since Tim Meadows.

“The thing about being an actor is that it’s not guaranteed, and I consider myself very lucky,” Thompson said. “Tracy

ing Bill Cosby’s transformation from one of Thompson’s comedy inspirations into what he called a “monster” after a series of sexual assault allegations emerged against him. But Thompson kept it light by doing his renowned Cosby impression.

Thompson kept the packed house laughing throughout the night. Besides performances by Eric Stonestreet and Sasheer Zamata, most of Pitt’s guests in the past year have been lecturers.

Thompson

Theo Schwarz | Visual Editor

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Charles Bolden to speak at Pittʼs commencement ceremony Dale Shoemaker Staff Writer

NASA’s top brass, Charles Bolden, is touching down at Pitt for graduation.

Pitt said Monday that Bolden, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and retired major general of the U.S. Marine Corps, will speak at the 2015 commencement convocation on April 26. At the ceremony, Pitt will also present Bolden with an honorary doctoral degree in public service, according to a release. Commencement will begin at 1 p.m. in the Petersen Events FROM PAGE 1

CLOSURE nors is the late wife of James Regis Connors, the namesake of the bar. The Pitt News was also unable to reach Connors in person at the bar’s location, 418 Semple St. On Friday at 3 p.m., the door was deadbolted, the lights were off and the establishment appeared to be empty. On Monday at

Center.

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in the release that Pitt selected Bolden because he is a “role model and inspiration.”

“Charles Bolden epitomizes leadership and service,” Gallagher said in the release, “and he is both a role model and an inspiration for emerging leaders who are ready to launch careers and explore new frontiers in their fields.”

To choose commencement speakers, according to University spokesman John Fedele, a committee from the University reviews several candidates and then presents its recommendations to the chancellor. Fedele would

not provide the other options besides Bolden.

The previous two speakers at commencement were Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg last year and Gallagher in 2013.

President Barack Obama nominated Bolden in 2009 for his role at NASA. His appointment that year marked his return to NASA after a 15-year absence. Bolden was last in space in 1994, aboard the flight of a joint American and Russian shuttle mission.

Back on Earth, Bolden continued his service in the U.S. Marine Corps as commanding general of the First Marine Expeditionary Force Forward in Operation Desert Thunder

in Kuwait. Bolden then held other senior positions in the Marines before retiring in 2003.

Between 2003 and his appointment to lead NASA, Bolden served as CEO of Jack and Panther LLC, a leadership, military and aerospace consulting firm. Bolden was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May 2006.

Though Pitt will pay for Bolden’s expenses to visit Pittsburgh, it isn’t paying him an honorarium, or speaking fee, Fedele said.

“Dr. Bolden’s life journey and successes are inspirational, and we are expecting that his speech will impart wisdom and inspiration to the graduates,” Fedele said.

about 2 p.m., the door was locked, but the signs posted by the Sheriff ’s Department were removed.

Before it shut the bar down, the Treasury Department “consistently reached out” to the bar about the back taxes from the time the bar missed its first payment to late March, according to Weinstein.

The department sent a representative from the treasurer’s office to visit the establishment in person, sent reminders for

Uncle Jimmy’s to pay its taxes and called on the phone, Weinstein said.

Judge Robert Colville issued a judgment “about two to three weeks ago” that the Sheriff ’s Department could shut the bar down, according to Weinstein.

Colville said Monday that while he likely issued the judgment, he couldn’t recall specifically signing the county’s petition to close the bar.

Alongside the treasurer’s office, the two

“executed on Colville’s judgment,” Weinstein said, and closed the establishment.

Allegheny County is “very aggressive” about pursuing the alcohol tax, Weinstein said Friday.

Allegheny County requires licensed sellers to pay seven percent of their total alcohol sales to the county. The Treasurer’s Department has shut down 48 bars in Allegheny County in the last year and collected $1.5 million in back taxes, according to Weinstein.

T P N S U D O K U

Today’s difficulty level: Medium Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

Donʼt let the tuition freeze thaw: Legislate budget raise It’s uncomfortable to go shopping and find no tags on the items — that blouse might be $20, but it could also be $50.

Either way, you don’t want to discover the price at the counter once you’ve already committed to the purchase.

Similarly, state university tuition freezes don’t necessarily tell you what your education’s final price tag will ring up as for that year. In a tuition freeze climate, students might commit to a school with the understanding they’d pay one price, but end up being charged more if the freeze thaws.

The Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education last Thursday narrowly approved Gov. Tom Wolf ’s proposed tuition freeze for the 2015-2016 school year. A tuition freeze keeps the 14 state-owned universities at a stagnant price. On Thursday, Wolf applauded the board for approving the freeze. Wolf said the tuition freeze was contingent on his plan to increase

budgets for state-owned schools by 11 percent.

If lawmakers approve Wolf ’s $45.3 million budget increase, it will be the largest increase in the State System of Higher Education’s history. However, in a Republican-controlled climate, debate stirs over whether legislators will approve the increase for the first time in seven years. Without this funding increase, the tuition freeze could thaw at any time.

An unexpected price increase partway through the school year — a potential pitfall if the legislators do not approve the budget increase — could mean some students will not be able to afford their school of choice anymore, knocking them out of college.

Currently, in-state tuition at Pennsylvania state-owned universities — such as Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

and California University of Pennsylvania — is about $6,820, plus fees that range from $1,672 to $2,546. With the approved tuition freeze, students can expect to pay this price in the fall term.

This figure is not explicit, though.

If the schools don’t receive the budget increase Wolf is advocating for, they could raise the price.

“We don’t want to have to go back and tell our students and our parents, ‘Oops, we made a mistake’ and look like idiots,” board Chairman Guido Pichini told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It’s imperative that students have an accurate idea of the price they will pay for the academic school year so they can align their expectations with their finances and aid packages. The only way students know the cost of tuition is through their University bills. If the board reserves the right to pull the price freeze at the last minute, students can’t even rely on these prices released by

their school. There should be clear disclaimers on students’ applications or other materials that a student must sign before committing.

In addition to the state-owned tuition freeze, Wolf is asking state-affiliated universities like Pitt, Pennsylvania State University and Temple University to keep their tuition as low as possible.

State Rep. Michael Hanna told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a tuition freeze would increase the likelihood of the legislature passing the budget. Still, there’s no consensus on whether these schools will freeze tuition, but Penn State President Eric Barron said he would support it — contingent on the budget increase.

Pennsylvania’s greatest potential college budget increase is looming on the horizon, and we hope to see it materialize. Legislators must approve Wolf ’s vision to create change.

Let’s hope this blouse fits like a dream and costs $20 rather than $50.

COLUMN

Freedom based on government stability, not ideology

Shengyu Wang For The Pitt News As a Chinese student studying in the United States, I felt conflicted when I read the news about Chinese police detaining anti-sexual harassment protesters on International Women’s Day last month.

The Chinese government did not allot the protesters their fair share of freedom of speech, and I realized the situation — in terms of freedom — was completely different in America.

I recall what I experienced here — from the politically tied fare of Conflict Kitchen; to strangers distributing flyers about religion, anti-poultry information and democracy and protesters against racism blocking Bigelow Boulevard.

People usually think capitalist societies have more freedom than socialist ones. However, is freedom really an issue of governmental and economic ideology?

I would say not.

What makes two governments with different ideologies behave similarly on the issue of freedom? Freedom is based on the stability and maturity of a country, instead of on its ideology. Any prevailing strife in a country can determine what parts of “freedom” you can and cannot express, which is often dictated by media coverage.

When a country like China is in economic or political turmoil and silences its people, it only furthers the original problem. A nation can’t foster new discourse without diverse voices and opinions. So,

freedom is not attached to capitalism — it is attached to your particular moment in history.

In 1947, Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, spent four months in the U.S., collecting her diaries in America Day by Day. “The climate is even more intolerable than I’d been told,” Beauvoir said in Carol Cosman’s translated version. “Most of the magazines and papers ... are busy creating a war psychosis.”

Even in a capitalist society, media control of public platforms — like magazines — exists.

Moreover, the individual’s political discussion was not as free as it is now in the U.S. In the April 19 journal, Beauvoir recorded that African American singer, Paul Robeson, was forbidden to perform

because he was a communist.

The freedom in late 1940s America is similar to the freedom in contemporary China, which the western world considers one of the countries with most constrained human rights in the world. While China is officially communist, about 76 percent of Chinese citizens subscribe to a free market ideology, according to Pew Research Center.

But this attention to capitalism will not automatically ensure “freedom.” According to the 2013 Human Rights Report, in China, “authorities continued to control print, broadcast and electronic media tightly and used them to propagate government views and CCP (Chinese

Wang

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 4

WANG

The Pitt News Crossword, 5/14/2015

Communist Party) ideology.”

Once a country is unstable, even with capitalist ideology, it will still restrict freedom.

During the Cold War, the U.S. faced threats of red power from a group of socialist countries led by the Soviet Union.

In order to maintain its dominant international position and domestic stability — as well as prevent socialist revolution at home — the federal government used social media as political propaganda and to control the freedom of political discussion.

However, once the country was more stable and stronger economically, it was more likely to give its people freedom.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has become the only superpower in the world.

The threat of socialist society had abated, and the United States had become a country with a strong economy. Thus, the government was more willing to respect ACROSS 1 Flat-topped hill 5 Bash thrower 9 Arctic or Antarctic 14 “Are you asleep yet?” response 15 Not tricked by 16 Modeler’s wood 17 Color named for a fruit 19 Like a mosquito bite 20 “Ah-oo-gah” horn 21 __ rally 23 Howls at the moon 24 “Hold on a __” 25 Seek the affections of 27 Stop producing opportunities, as a financial market 29 Prefix with red 31 What a musty room needs 34 Ancient invader of Rome 37 Legendary Lady Godiva watcher 39 Converse competitor 40 Gets rid of, as weight 41 Park path 42 Stiff from horseback riding 44 Soon, quaintly 45 Set aside a day for 46 Word before house or plant 48 Oafs 50 Tyke 51 Eric Stonestreet’s “Modern Family” role 54 New Zealand fruit 56 Affirmative vote 58 Pepsi competitor 60 Slip past 62 Clumsy ... or what the ends of 17-, 37- and 42Across are?

64 Judge’s hammer 65 Jacob’s first wife 66 Lewd material 67 Go on tiptoe 68 Like centerfolds 69 Glazed Easter meats

the ideals of American free of speech than it was during the Cold War. In a socialist country, such as China, the situation is similar, but more complicated. China’s situation is more complex because it faces not only international influences, like America did in Cold War, but also domestic historical hardships — like a long war history and a lower standard of living.

Social instability and economic immaturity, influenced by the nightmare of warfare, still impede the freedom of speech and press in China.

The People’s Republic of China just eliminated the smoke of warfare since the First Opium War in 1840.

It’s hard for the memory of 100 years of warfare to disappear immediately. The

Is freedom really an issue of governmental and economic ideology?

I would say not.

4/27/15

By Mark Bickham

DOWN 1 Does a farm job 2 Author Zola 3 “Poison” plant 4 Peak 5 Cornucopia 6 “__ Life to Live” 7 Dance move 8 Got into shape, with “up” 9 __-Wan Kenobi 10 Agile thief 11 Yosemite monolith popular with rock climbers 12 Pale as a ghost 13 Negative votes 18 Red-carpet garment 22 Commendable 26 Black-and-white cookies 28 Yang counterpart 29 “That never occurred to me” 30 Ancient storyteller 32 Forbidden act 33 Fed. agents 34 Quick inhalation 35 Running track shape

Chinese government has not yet grown confident in its social stability, whereas the U.S. has.

Accordingly, the Chinese Communist Party worries about political instability and shrinks away from permitting the freedom of speech and press that Americans enjoy more frequently.

Economic immaturity requires the Chinese government to eliminate the distraction of different voices at home and abroad.

Mainland China is still in the initial stage of national development.

Thus, the government wants a quiet social environment of public opinions so it can focus on economic development.

Although, in recent years, China’s economy has become increasingly influ-

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 Seaside disaster cause 38 1995 Reform Party founder 43 Singer Reed 47 Engrave on glass, say 49 Makes watertight 51 Punctuation mark in large numbers 52 Scrapbook

4/27/15

53 Supports for sails 54 Tapped beer holders 55 Tennis great Lendl 57 Out of the wind 59 Like an easy job, slangily 61 Moose relative 63 Southern Cal. airport

5 ential, as citizens have accepted the CCP regime more. This acceptance has yielded more freedom of speech and press, leading to changes in society.

For example, the number of Chinese students studying abroad has reached 3 million. Those students learn the ideals of freedom in western countries and bring that concept back to China. Moreover, news channels and TV programs that express ordinary people’s opinions have become increasingly popular in recent years. Top universities in mainland China have invited some Taiwanese scholars — with different ideologies — to make speeches. Thus, we can see that China has been gradually increasing the freedom of speech and press of its citizens. Even in a socialist society, with a more stable society and stronger economy, it’s possible to realize the freedom of speech and press.

Ideology does not define the freedom in a country. The more confident the government feels about its regime, the more likely it will let people speak freely. Freedom in a country is based on its stability and maturity, not its ideology.

Write to Shengyu at shw81@pitt.edu.

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT CINEMA

Baumbach’s “While We’re Young” an earnestly human comedy

Grade:

ATNS

Ian Flanagan Staff Writer Youth is wasted on the old — or so Noah Baumbach’s new film, “While We’re Young,” seems to argue.

“While We’re Young” delivers insight on generational conflict to concepts of objective truth and originality. But Baumbach hints at something bigger: a desire to enjoy life, even in mundane circumstances or elder years.

Though Baumbach doesn’t reach the understated delights of his previous film “Frances Ha,” his latest is his most assured. He has refined his skills since taking the directing scene in 2006 with his shrewdly raw third film “The Squid and the Whale.” His latest work is precisely edited and unfailingly funny. “While We’re Young”is loaded with a fresh bag of dynamic dialogue and honest ruminations on modern American life.

Our finely detailed lead characters are

two couples — husband Josh (Ben Stiller) and wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) become good friends with married partners Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), who are both nearly 20 years younger. Josh and Jamie connect based on their careers as independent documentarians — Josh has been working on the same piece for a decade, and Jamie is looking to enter into the field.

Though Josh is initially invigorated by the optimistic youth, he becomes suspicious of Jamie’s intentions after agreeing to help the younger documentarian with his first project. Late into a career of making serious, “boring” documentaries, Josh is running in place, while Jamie is just getting started with lively, freewheeling projects. As the duo build a relationship, Jamie too easily becomes affiliated with Josh’s father-in-law and famed filmmaker Leslie Breitbart (Charles Grodin).

The plot of “While We’re Young” is much thornier than that of Baumbach’s

earlier works. But that doesn’t get in the way of his reflections on the reality of modern-day life, which flawlessly depict hipster culture, social etiquette and the spontaneity and rhythm of natural conversation. He makes the mundane both whimsical and unsentimental. Like the better moments of Woody Allen’s work, Baumbach disguises a tactful and intellectual piece of social commentary as a bright indie comedy — without jeopardizing brains or laughter.

The cast of familiars helps the film as well — Stiller and Watts are reliable actors worthy of Baumbach’s realistically flawed characters. Stiller and Watts are game to act their way unconventional situations, such as a hallucinogenic ayahuasca ceremony, an uncomfortable hiphop dance classes and a “street beach” party. Baumbach not only puts Driver’s charms to good use, but by the end of the character’s arc, the themes of “While We’re Young” challenge the sincerity of

the goofy cool-guy persona he so frequently embodies in films like “Frances Ha.” Even Seyfried is in top form, sporting comedy chops and a rare glimpse at the charisma that’s usually buried in her many inferior roles.

“While We’re Young” channels the border between the cinematic and the naturalistic. Its writing brims with spoton witticisms, delectable exchanges and conversational explorations of existential truths and questions. And despite the temptation to infuse the film with obvious metahumor with its filmmakers-as-characters premise, Baumbach manages to be knowing without being smug, opting for sophistication instead of condescension.

This earnest humanism bubbles beneath the plot of “While We’re Young,” as in many other Baumbach works. “While We’re Young” is both vibrant and wise, modern and mature — simply businessas-usual for its gifted creator.

April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

MUSIC

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Ava Luna returns to strange, unexpected roots on ʻInfinite Houseʼ Dan Willis Staff Writer

Ava Luna has planted itself at the fruitful intersection of two of 2015’s least trendy influences: punk and soul. Okay, yes — punk is popular, but Ava Luna has no interest in the joy-dividing melancholy or post-confessionalist evisceration that have defined its contemporary genre. While soul revival is also ubiquitous, Ava Luna avoids heavy doses of electronic dance music and self-serious vulnerability that has infiltrated the genre.

Brooklyn’s Ava Luna is an exuberant, playful band whose volatility recalls as much high-energy Southern soul as the brainy noise punk of late ’70s New York City. However, instead of bridging the gap between these influences, the band maps the chasm’s every contour.

Infinite House treasures the discrepant, which would be riskier if another band attempted it.

Whether screaming “his yellow constitution” over prickly new jack swing or writing a doo-wop torch song about carbon, Ava Luna can pull off anything — no matter how unexpected. Infinite House is so many things that albums in 2015 aren’t supposed to be: theatrical (“Steve Polyester”), droll (“Tenderize”) and mushy (“Roses and Cherries”), but it never tries too hard to be cool.

This effortless originality is what makes it so cool.

Infinite House is Ava Luna’s third album, arriving only one year after the FROM PAGE 1

THOMPSON “We really try to go across the board with the speakers, and especially with the success of Eric Stonestreet last semester, I think a comedian adds an extra excitement,” said PPC’s lecture director Lindsy Steinberger. “They’re born performers, so it just seemed like an excellent choice.”

The event also featured opening act Collin Chamberlin, a Pitt senior who won PPC’s stand-up comedy show.

band’s breakthrough Electric Balloon, in which it straightened out the labyrinthine kinks of its debut into hooky, if occasionally tiresome, pop songs. The

album also carefully reintroduces the band’s characteristically scattershot sound of its early work, as necessary.

The presence of it-producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Spoon, Tame

spaces to many of the album’s highlights. The track “Black Dog” goes from Dirty Projectors balladry to crunchy doom metal in about zero seconds, and “Victoria” repeatedly resurfaces from

pools of reverb as if it were recorded in the hollow chest of a living, breathing cave.

The band also continues to take advantage of its three lead singers and their superhuman harmonizing abilities. Carlos Hernandez’s hand-wringing falsetto is the perfect counterpart to Becca Kauffman’s talky Yoko-isms and Felicia Douglass’ sleepy tunefulness.

Meanwhile, the lyrics are just as surreal as those in past albums, but they’re more delightfully specific on Infinite House. “Best Hexagon” describes two people “curling up” in the titular shape to “chew on gummy snacks.”

Even at its weirdest, Ava Luna is still palatable because they always seem to be having fun. Kauffman plays a nice game of pretend on “Steve Polyester,” alternating between herself and the character described in the lyrics as “a landscape” and “a ruby lined in gold shaped like a cockroach” who “smells good.” Kauffman’s voice takes on a chest-puffed confidence and tacky opulence to match, and it’s so fun you don’t even stop to wonder if it’s pretentious.

Ava Luna has a rare combination of originality and trend indifference that makes for striking music. It has a voice, which is crisp and fully realized on Infinite House. This is its most balanced album to date. At once, it’s weirder and more digestible, rawer and more ornate than anything the band has done before.

It doesn’t fly its freak flag high above the listener so much as it presents the flag as a gift.

His act mostly included jokes about his weight and its effects on his interactions, like talking to women, along with blaming his mother for feeding him McDonald’s when delivering bad news during his childhood. He wrapped his 20-minute set up with an impression of Charles Barkley, before ruminating on how funny it would be if Barkley read the news.

Thompson had some impressions of his own, including Samuel L. Jackson, Forrest Whitaker, Mike Tyson and Snoop Dogg. He spoke about smoking weed with

the latter two celebrities.

His set ended with an audience Q&A, during which he fielded questions about celebrity mentors (Chris Tucker), how to avoid breaking during a funny “SNL” skit and reenacting an old “All That” character, Pierre Escargot, who famously “taught” viewers French.

“The monkey ... has a bump ... on his booty,” Thompson “translated” after speaking a gibberish French phrase, bringing audience members back to their days of watching sketch comedy designed for kids.

While Thompson certainly shifted his material to fit his more mature audiences, he still managed to provide students with a sampling of his long career’s humor.

The event’s timing before finals week was an opportunity for students to unwind during the busiest time of the year.

“His stand-up was really great,” said Noah Marks, a sophomore majoring in physics and the history and philosophy of science who attended on Monday night.

“It’s always nice to unwind — especially with finals coming up.”

Grade:

Impala) no doubt enables the band’s strangeness on Infinite House.

Fridmann lends his psychedelic ambition and penchant for impossible

A

Western Vinyl

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FOOTBALL

SPORTS

Coordinating Success New OC and QB coach Jim Chaney builds a relationship with Chad Voytik on and off the field Jeremy Tepper Staff Writer Throughout his lengthy coaching career, new Pitt offensive coordinator Jim Chaney has transformed quarterbacks from unheralded into unstoppable. At Pitt, he is hoping to do the same with redshirt junior quarterback Chad Voytik.

The star pupil of Chaney’s that comes to mind is Drew Brees, a record setter at Purdue and celebrated quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.. Chaney sometimes mentions Brees, not by name but by one of his physical attributes.

Chaney alludes to him as “that short guy in New Orleans,” addressing his 6-foot, 209-pound stature, which, though large for the average human, is relatively small

for quarterbacks, with the average signalcaller tending to stand in the 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-5 range.

Now in his first year at Pitt, Chaney is grooming his latest student in Voytik.

Voytik, Pitt’s starter last year and a man of similar stature to the undersized Brees at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, wants to replicate Brees’ leap under the longtime offensive coordinator’s watch.

Voytik knows that Brees’ training under Chaney was instrumental in Brees’ soaring potential.

“I talk to him a lot about coaching Drew Brees,” Voytik said. “I think it’s huge for me to get to listen and watch the film that he has of these NFL quarterbacks.”

To develop his quarterbacks, Chaney has collected film of every NFL comple-

DONʼT JUDGE A BOOK...

NFL Quarterbacks can come in all shapes and sizes, so stature should not be an issue if Chad Voytik hopes to go pro.

5'11

Russel Wilson

Seattle Seahawks

MCT Campus and Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer

6'1Chad Voytik

Pittsburgh Panthers

tion since 2012. While watching it, Chaney complements the plays with Pitt’s terminology, helping to contextualize what he wants to see from them on the field.

Voytik said Pitt’s past coaching staff didn’t have such NFL video at its disposal, and Pitt has since taken advantage of the additional resources.

“I love when he pulls out NFL film to watch,” Voytik said. “We get to see the plays we’re about to run in practice being run by the best in the world.”

It was an up-and-down season for Voytik last season in his first year as Pitt’s starter, finishing with 2,233 yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Most of those ups, though, came toward the end of the season: Voytik finished with six touchdowns and one interception in his

6ʼ4 Tom Brady

New England Patriots

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last four regular season games.

So far, Voytik’s development has pleased Chaney throughout spring practice, though he recognizes that learning a new offense and new terminology doesn’t come quickly.

“It’s a slow process,” Chaney said. “I’m asking him to learn a complete new language. Sometimes I think he feels like I’m speaking French to him.”

Chaney, though, is confident that Voytik’s acumen will elevate his play this season.

“I think Chad’s mind is wonderful. He can grasp concepts well,” Chaney said.

“Chad’s brain will never be his limitation as a football player.”

Voytik

Brock Osweiler Denver Broncos

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April 14, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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FROM PAGE 8

VOYTIK Head coach Pat Narduzzi added that Voytik has the work ethic to match his smarts, and he studies film constantly with Chaney.

“I think he’s in there with Coach Chaney every day for hours. I don’t know if he goes to class,” Narduzzi said. “I think he only has class with Coach Chaney at times. I think every extra minute he has, he’s in here studying.”

Chaney isn’t afraid to let Voytik down when he messes up, Voytik said, although the quarterback expects this to benefit him..

“He’ll get in your business and let you know what you did wrong,” Voytik said.

“It’s just a different style I have to get used to, but I think it is good. It’s definitely going to put more pressure on me in practice, which hopefully will prepare me for the pressure that I’ll experience in games.”

Chaney’s method of interaction is stylistically different from that of Paul Chryst, Pitt’s former head coach, Voytik said, adding that Chryst “let you take it and deal with your problems” instead of vocalizing his concerns.

As Chaney continues to evaluate Voytik, the coordinator wants the redshirt junior to utilize his legs.

“He’ll have me set up right outside the pocket more than he would an Adam Bertke,” Voytik said, comparing himself to his 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman counterpart.

Chaney hopes tailoring to Voytik’s abilities will bring his strengths to the surface.

“We all have fleas, as human beings and as football players,” Chaney said. “My job is to understand the fleas of my existing football players and make sure they don’t show up very much.”

Bridget Montgomery Sarah Mejia Michelle Reagle Megan Zagorski Sydney Mengel Amanda Sobczak

9

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