Three fathers say AD Jim Weaver went against his word when it came to scholarship releases.
By Jim Reedy
Parents of the five Virginia Tech wrestlers who plan to follow former coach Tom Brands to Iowa say Tech athletic director Jim Weaver’s decision to deny their sons immediate transfer releases flies in the face of a promise he made during the recruiting process.
Brent Metcalf, Joe Slaton, Dan LeClere, Jay Borschel and T.H. Leet — all of whom redshirted as freshmen last season — plan to enroll at Iowa but will lose a year of NCAA eligibility unless Virginia Tech releases them from their scholarship obligations.
The fathers of Iowa natives Slaton, LeClere and Borschel said Weaver promised to do just that when they met with him in his office in fall 2004. Brands, a former Olympic champion, was the sole reason the five touted recruits were considering the Hokies and their families wondered what would happen if he left for another coaching job.
“It was clear what [Weaver] told us, “Jim Borschel said. “He said ‘We have a practice of releasing any athlete at any time for any reason.'”
Brands left Virginia Tech last month after two seasons and Weaver, who declined to comment for this story, announced the Hokies would not grant transfer releases until after next season.
A three-person university panel upheld that decision in an appeals hearing last week.
Lynn Metcalf, Brent’s mother, said Brands promised a release in writing, but Jon Jaudon, the Virginia Tech associate AD who oversees the wrestling program, said that was “absolutely not “an official document.
“I would characterize it as a scribbled note, to be honest with you, “Jaudon said. “That wasn’t the assertion that the athletic department made. That was an assertion that they claim Coach Brands made to them. Coach Brands was acting outside the scope of his job description with that claim. …
“We’ve completely lived up to our end of the bargain.”
Tech offered to release the wrestlers if they agreed to transfer somewhere other than Iowa, the parents said.
“We feel like they have a problem with Tom and they’re taking it out on our 19-year-old sons, “said Matt Shaver, Slaton’s father.
The parents said they will consider legal action against Tech if university president Charles Steger does not overrule Weaver and the panel.
“Had we not been promised this, we wouldn’t be saying anything, “Lynn Metcalf said. “We’re not whiners.”
Former Hokies wrestler John Laboranti, now taking summer classes at Penn State, said Virginia Tech released him from his scholarship in January after he left the team during the season.
Mark Logan, who redshirted as a freshman last season, left Virginia Tech for reasons unrelated to wrestling, said Kevin Dresser, the Hokies’ new coach.
“I don’t think he needed a release, “Dresser said, noting that Logan only received scholarship aid to cover the cost of his books. “I think his situation was quite a bit different … than these guys.”
Dresser also said that Mike Faust, a senior All-American last season for Tech, decided to train full-time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., instead of helping to coach the Hokies as a graduate student.
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