ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 171 No. 5
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2025
Sweater vest and success: Meet Miami’s winningest coach
How Chuck Martin created his legacy as head coach of Miami football
Spilling the Tea: How a popular app has become a source of disinformation SHANNON MAHONEY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR
CHUCK MARTIN STANDS ON THE SIDELINES AT YAGER STADIUM AGAINST CINCINNATI ON SEPT. 14, 2024. PHOTO BY SARAH FROSCH
ELISA ROSENTHAL PHOTO EDITOR The head coach is a pinnacle character on every football sideline, but many are hidden in the sea of jerseys and helmets. They often blend in with other coaches or players, making them hard to recognize despite their headsets and clipboards. Miami University head coach Chuck Martin, however, is almost impossible to miss in his iconic Miami-red sweater vest. The winningest coach in program history has worn a sweater vest at all 139 of his games across 12 years with the RedHawks,
In this issue
highlighting his presence on the sideline every week. Martin arrived in Oxford in December 2013 following a winless season. He broke a 21-game losing streak in his sixth game as head coach, a preview of what was to come later in his tenure. “He's taken the program to another level,” said quarterbacks coach and Miami football alumnus Gus Ragland. “Now it’s at the level where we'll win championships. It has everything to do with him, that's who he is. He sets the temperature of the room.” During his collegiate career, Martin played on both the basketball and
football teams at Millikin University, a Division III school in Decatur, Illinois. He earned All-American honors as a safety and all-conference honors as a placekicker. Martin bounced as an assistant coach throughout the 1990s, including a two-year tenure at his alma mater. He eventually landed a role as the defensive backs and outside linebackers coach at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), where he stayed for 10 years. Martin stepped into a head coach position at GVSU from 2004 to 2009, his only other head coaching job prior to Miami. Under his leadership, the
Lakers went 74-7 and brought home two Division-II national championship titles. The sweater vest tradition started at GVSU: a nondescript style choice that quickly became a symbol of his career, success and image as a whole. “I became a head coach, and I had to wear something to be a head coach,” Martin said. “I don't know if somebody told me to do it, but at my first head coaching game back in 2004, I decided to wear a black sweater vest at Grand Valley, and I've been wearing them since.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Efforts underway to soften local water TORI FEE THE MIAMI STUDENT
GREENHAWKS
51st annual Hefner Lecture: Prehistoric predators and using the past to inform our future - page 12
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
Clinical Health Sciences building renamed following partnership with Cleveland Clinic - page 4
Avery Caldwell, a junior primary and special education major, lives in a six-person house near Elm Street. Following their arrival into off-campus housing, Avery and her roommates noticed something unusual about their water. Caldwell said her hair felt waxy and straw-like, along with a general feeling of not being clean after showering. She bought resources such as shower head and drinking water filters for her home as a result. “Showering is a lot more difficult because of the [shower head] filter,” Caldwell said, “and the water pressure isn’t as strong.” While the problem isn’t exactly fixed by these filters, Caldwell said she could tell a difference. Her discomfort was not caused by the cleanliness of Oxford’s water, but by its hardness. According to Oxford’s Drinking Water Consumption Confidence Report for 2024, Oxford’s Water Treatment Plant pumped nearly 841 million gallons of water from wells located near the Great Miami Buried
ALLISON LEE COLUMN
OPINION
Miami: You’re a liberal arts college, not a polytechnic institute - page 10
SPORTS
The history and impact of midweek MACtion - page 7
As Halloween approaches and students scramble to rummage through closets to pull together last-minute costumes, it can be tricky to curate the perfect one. Niche, but not too niche. Sexy, yet tasteful. Classic, but not overdone. Coming up with one costume can be hard enough, let alone enough for the entire weekend. Although I have already chosen my costumes for this year, here are five Halloween costumes that I totally would wear and recommend for others. Burlesque dancer This costume has been floating around TikTok lately, and I am absolutely in love. Although there are many intricate details that go into this costume, finding the right pieces can be much simpler than one may think. Brands such as Dolls Kill have this costume available ready to wear, but
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The big catch: Phishing at Miami GRACE FARRELL THE MIAMI STUDENT
TAYLOR STUMBAUGH CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR
OXFORD'S WATER TREATMENT PLANT OVERSEES WATER QUALITY FOR OVER 20,000 CUSTOMERS. PHOTO BY SARAH FROSCH
Valley Aquifer (GMBVA). The GMBVA holds around 1.5 trillion gallons of water and is a federally designated, sole-source aquifer. Oxford’s naturally hard domestic water supply is produced from the GMBVA. This source of water passes through deposits of limestone, con-
taining high concentrations of calcium and magnesium. These minerals are responsible for hair breakage, dry skin, mineral buildup and reduced appliance efficiency.
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How to show up and show out with your Halloween costume this year STAFF WRITER
In Armstrong Student Center, dining halls and dorms, students are buzzing about Tea Dating Service, an app that allows women to post photos and identifying information about men and rate them. The app has already had serious repercussions for many, including students at Miami University. Ben Herrholtz, a sophomore finance major, said he thinks the app is an infringement on people’s privacy and unfair to some of the men posted on it. “I know that my roommate has been posted on it, actually, and it caused him and his girlfriend to break up,” Herrholtz said. “His ex-girlfriend wrote some things that I guess weren't true about him, and his girlfriend saw that.” The app was originally designed to help women anonymously alert each other to predatory men. Other tools offered by Tea include criminal records and reverse image searches. Despite the original intention of the app, many women have used it to air their grievances, making posts that may not be based in truth. Natalia Salazar, a first-year business major, said she heard about the app through a friend and downloaded it because she was interested in what was being said, especially after hearing some of her male friends had been posted on it. “It's all fun and games, but I think that it could lead to very false interpretations of people,” Salazar said. “The things that they say about some of our friends, if you met them, it's not exactly true.” Kate Beard, a first-year sport communication and media major, agreed that while the app could be entertaining, it was difficult to discern the truth.
if you want to piece it together yourself, all you need are these: Firstly, a corset is key. Burlesque dancers are all about flirtatious femininity, so having a corset that defines the body is a must. On the bottom, you can pair it with lace bloomers for something quick and easy, or for a more authentic look, add a feather-tail fan. Accessorize with an ostrich feather fan and a feather headpiece, and you’re good to go! Clown classique On the same vintage note as the burlesque dancer, the clown classique is a unique piece that is both easy and interesting – black and white are the name of the game here. A simple black and white patterned dress is the main garment for this costume. You can pair any black and white top and bottom for this, but a plethora of patterns will achieve the best look. Patterned tights and a matching Pierrot hat and collar are all you need to complete this film noir-esque outfit.
Of course, clown makeup is a necessity. Clowns do not have to be the scary caricatures that spooked us all in 2016 — this chic makeup is the star of the show and a cute way to show your personality. Mia Wallace From the cult classic 1994 Quentin Tarantino film “Pulp Fiction,” dressing as Mia Wallace is a great way to use clothes you may already have in your closet. All you need is a white button-up shirt, black trousers (or a skirt!) and a black bralette. If you have a fierce brunette bob already, the work is already cut out for you. If not, a wig will absolutely be necessary. This costume is such a classic — easy to move in, accessible and instantly recognizable. So, don’t be a square and be ready to strike up a conversation with any film buff you may come across whilst wearing this.
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Paige Sandy ended her first semester at Miami University with two phishing scams under her belt. One convinced her to enter two credit cards and two debit cards to receive a lost package. The other offered her $300 a week to do neuropsychology research in a lab at Miami. Sandy, a biology major and now sophomore, was looking for research opportunities at the time, and, even though she thought it was suspicious, she kept emailing with the supposed Miami professor for an hour before collecting an outside source’s opinion: her parents. “I was like, ‘Hey, this kind of seems a little bit too good to be true,’” she said. She said the professor never asked for any credit card information, only her year and major. The first red flag came when the professor asked her if she could start immediately, even before her information was processed and in the middle of finals week. “I looked up the email again, and then I looked up the professor's name through the faculty page,” Sandy said. “I went to his Miami email, because this was a copy of his email, but it looked more like a personal email. I emailed him, and I was like, ‘Hey, just checking to make sure this is you,’ and he emailed back, ‘I'm so sorry, that's not me. That's a scam.’” Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an email that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank or a mortgage company, according to the Federal Trade Commission. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information. A scammer then uses the information to open new accounts or invade the consumer’s existing accounts. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4