As best as I can tell Mark Giannotto reported the story first, but David Teel followed up with more firm details.
I'm told there will be an announcement later this afternoon about Jim Weaver's status as #Hokies AD. He will not fulfill all of his contract— Hokies Journal (@HokiesJournal) November 12, 2013
#Hokies AD Jim Weaver just told me he is retiring effective next month for health reasons. Assoc AD Sharon McCloskey will serve as interim.— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) November 12, 2013
#Hokies AD Weaver is battling Parkinsons and also needs hip replacement: "I can't do my job," Weaver said.— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) November 12, 2013
Obviously, there will be more on this to come.
Comments
Damn, that's terrible he has to retire due to Parkinsons. Had a friend's father pass away due to Parkinsons when we were in HS, definitely a tough battle to fight. Thoughts and prayers with Jim Weaver.
So with Weaver leaving, who will be the guy fans blame for all of VT Athletics's sins real or imagined?
No kidding. Weaver out as AD, Stinespring out as offensive coordinator. Who will the bedwetters turn to now?
Best wishes to him in retirement. VT Athletics had some great moments during his tenure.
Ugh accidental phone downvote. Apologies, sir.
rectified
ditto
I mistakenly downvoted as well...curse my clicker finger. Have this sweet GIF and a few legs to compensate.
Best accidental downvote post ever!
I sense a new tradition emerging...
Definitely praying for him - He's witnessed and has been a part of the monumental growth of the VT athletic program and Virginia Tech
Posted it in the other thread but I'll post it here too:
For as much flack as we've given the guy this season it's really not deserved.
Thank you Mr. Weaver for making VT a premier destination for student athletes! Football tends to be what everyone is drawn to, but I think it's safe to say that all our sports have benefitted from his tenure. Just look at the recent successes:
The football team is nationally relavant and playing for the ACC year in and year out.
Baseball just hosted it's first ever region
Our Women's Soccer team got a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament
Our Wrestling program has quietly become a national power
Track and Field have had tons of success
Softball went to the Women's College World Series and beat/no-hit Team USA
And I'm sure I'm forgetting others.
Seriously, thank you Mr. Weaver for your service to Virginia Tech. Without you I may have never become a Hokie in the first place. I am forever in debt to you for that.
I wish I could give you a turkey leg for this, but consider this a virtual virtual turkey leg!
arent they...already...virtual?...
Do we have another Richmond alum on TKP??
VT for undergrad, grad school at Richmond.
I'll second that. The wrestling program is especially impressive, because they were on an upward trajectory when the coach at the time (Brands?) left. I think we could have easily fallen back into the pack, but Weaver found a suitable replacement (in our backyard no less) and kept up the momentum.
No offense, but Drescher was the first person that would come to mind for anyone who knew wrestling in the area. He had monumental success at Grundy and Christiansburg high school, winning state titles every year and producing some of the best wrestlers in the country (including the #1 overall wrestler one year). His choice of coach was somewhat a no brainer, though it has panned out perhaps even better than expected so far. That all being said, from what I've heard Weaver deserves credit for keeping the wrestling program alive after the Brands fiasco.
Drescher? ;-)
Yikes. Dresser should never be mistaken for that.
Every VT sports fan owes Jim Weaver their gratitude. He oversaw an exponential expansion of the VT athletic department, including over $100 million in new facilities, while always turning a profit.
Sad news but I wish him the best
Good luck to JW and his battle with Parkinson's.
I guess I'll have to retire my Weaver meme. I've made a ton of turkey legs off it the last year:
I never thought a meme on this site would make me tear up any other way than by laughing too hard but this is somehow very sad.
Jeeze, that's terrible news.
Thanks for all you've done jim, we're praying for ya.
Dont forget National Championship in BASS FISHING
and Hammer Throws!
This is sad to hear. Jim Weaver is a great guy and parkinson's is a horrible disease. Virginia Tech has had amazing success under his leadership. I truly wish him the best of luck.
I was really hoping he would be around for a few more years to work with the new university president and to secure the future of the football program in the post-Beamer era (whenever that might be).
I don't know how I feel about a new president having to choose a new AD as one of his first orders of business (especially if the new president is not a VT guy), but that appears it will be the case. In the meantime, does anybody know anything about McCloskey and what we can expect from her?
I'm in a class with Dr. Torgersen, and he thinks highly of her. That's good enough for me...haha
I was just reading her profile on hokiesports.com and she seems like a very worthy and qualified replacement http://www.hokiesports.com/staff/mccloskey_sharon.html
She filled in as interim AD prior to the hire of Jim Weaver as well, so I think we are in good hands for the time being.
She will definitely fill the immediate void, but she is still battling cancer herself (I believe she is in remission) and is closing on her career at Tech. Within the next 3-5 years, the makeup of the entire Athletic Department is going to change.
It's crazy that within a a 5 year period (maybe less, maybe more, who knows) we'll likely have a new President, AD, and Football coach. That's a lot of change for a department that is relatively adverse to change. I hope it's handled well across the board.
McCloskey was the fan favorite to replace Dave Braine before Weaver was hired.
Many thanks, Mr. Weaver!
Although I have disagreed with a couple of his moves (no Thursday night game this year, Stick-it-In, Seth Greenberg), I think Jim Weaver has done a great job in his fifteen year tenure at Virginia Tech. Without a doubt, the athletic program has improved immensely in his tenure and he has the respect of myself and I'm sure other countless Hokies for doing his job with class and distinction.
It's incredibly sad that he's leaving his post due to health circumstances. Which is why I'm proposing the following challenge to TKPers:
By the end of this calendar year, my goal is to raise $1,000 in Jim Weaver's name to be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The charity is one of the highest-rated non-profits dealing with Parkinson's Research according to Charity Navigator. If another person strongly feels that we should donate to another non-profit, I'm willing to be flexible. I'm planning on putting together a Kickstarter page by the end of this week and would love and appreciate any help I can get because I'm not the savviest social media person out there.
I think with the amount of foot traffic this site gets and the machine that is Hokie Nation, I don't think $1,000 is an unreasonable goal. If anyone wants to get involved from an administration standpoint, let me know soon so everyone can be on the same page before I launch the Kickstarter site. I imagine Joe and few of you other guys want to get involved, I know y'all are busy so I'm willing to do the majority of the heavy lifting under your guidance.
I'll create an e-mail account specifically for this so I don't have e-mails sent to my personal account. I'll shoot that e-mail address out to everyone one I create it.
I think this is a fantastic idea
give an address -we can make it happen easily I would think... so now the site is an endowment organization? I smell 501-c3 status...
I may not have agreed with his policies (#stickitin).
I may not liked some of his decisions or how he handled them (#greenberggate)
But I hope every Hokie understands that without Jim Weaver, we wouldn't have the coaches, facilities, or the reputation that we enjoy today.
Best of luck Mr. Weaver, and thank you for everything you've done for our university.
Wishing Weaver the best in his battle with Parkinson's. He's done a lot of good things for VT.
Not to make light of the situation, but does anyone have any idea of potential candidates they might consider to replace him?
I also posted this in another thread - apologies.
Mr. Weaver - Thank you for your service. We appreciate your dedication and wish you the best.
PS. Coach Johnson's job just went from tough to impossible. Had some cover at the top but not anymore.
After today's game against WVU, JJ just might be OK. Exciting watching the newbies. BTW, the official announcement for JW's retirement was supposed to be at a presser tomorrow. But he couldn't make it due to his condition. So, he leaked it to his buddy David Teel. Conference call this evening with Steger with all reporters wanting details.
Pretty sad that his health forced him to step aside before he planned. I'll be honest, I disagreed with many of his decisions (banning of stick it in, lack of a Thursday night home game this season), but his job was to appease as many people as possible, actually to appease the most money possible (as any good AD does), and who knew what kind of politics he had to balance behind the scenes.
However, he absolutely left Virginia Tech athletics in a better place than when he found it. The Hokies will be fortunate if their next athletic director can do the same, and raise the bar again.
If the next AD brings back Stick It In...
Having met Mr. Weaver multiple times, it was clear his intent was always to improve the university and its athletic department. Sure, he may have had some unpopular decisions in his time, which have already been said above, but Virginia Tech isn't what it is today without Jim Weaver and we should be grateful for that.
Now the question becomes who replaces him. I would have to think Tech stays in house with either Tim East (external affairs) or Tom Gabbard (internal affairs). Of course, Tech could go with Shannon McCloskey who is reported as the interim director.
Interesting couple months to come with both Weaver and Steger leaving.
What about Frank Beamer?
It's been discussed on here before, but I belive the consensus was that Beamer doesn't have the business savy to play the AD role well. He will definitely be invovled in the athletic department in some facet after he retires from coaching, just doubt it would be that high of a role.
Also, Beamer is getting up there and Weaver's entire reason for retiring seems to be that he can just no longer keep up, doubt Beamer could or would want to handle that stress.
Bill Dooley was hired to be both football coach and AD, which is a lot of responsibility for anyone. He later stepped down from both because of problems with the basketball program, IIRC. I know Frank will not be around forever, but I would hate to lose him because of something not involving football.
I don't think there's any way this stays internal. New university president will bring in their own person to the position. McCloskey probably stays on as interim until sometime in the spring, maybe early summer.
Originally Gabbard was supposed to retire when Weaver retired at the end of the contract. What I would expect is, that he now retires within the next year or two and the same can be said with a lot of the other higher ups in the department. So there will be a lot of turnover, which is why they are doing a national search for the new AD. They will probably have someone in place by the end of spring semester.
obviously, this begs the next question. Who is the next man up?
Is it too soon to start the Joe for VT AD campaign?
I'm already on twitter twittering about it.
Where do I apply?
My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Weaver and his family. My grandfather recently passed after battling Alzheimer's for several years, so I know how difficult a long-term and life-altering illness can be. I'm thankful for all he's done for Virginia Tech athletics, and am glad he got to sign the deal for the Bristol game before he had to retire. I know he talked a lot about wanting that to happen throughout the years.
I think it is fitting that he helped ensure Frank Beamer became a coaching legend, given that he played for Joe Paterno. In my opinion, a lot of how he managed the athletic department modeled the stability that Penn State had for so many years. Hopefully a small part of his legacy will be enabling some of Frank's players to follow a similar path and provide steady leadership in their chosen fields.
I have a feeling that getting the series with Penn State was pretty special for him too
We've given him a lot of flak, but he's a good egg. Thanks for everything, Weavs.
Do you think we can get Stick it in back?
So sad...Is it too soon to ask for "stick it in" back? Too soon? ok then...
Maybe we take it back...
ETA: Best wishes to Jim Weaver and thanks for his commitment to the university. He navigated VT through a lot of changes in college athletics, and kept VT strong in the process
Good luck, and Godspeed Mr. Weaver. We've had our differences, but every time that I sent you psycho-fan-bitch-n-moan emails, you ALWAYS sent back a courteous reply. That counts for a lot in my book.
Thank you for everything, Weaves. We've had some insane times together. Best of luck, and nothing personal, but....
#STICKITINSTICKITINSTICKITIN WILL BE BACK!
Frank Beamer has withdrawn his name from consideration.
Not surprised in the least. Too much work when he wants to be golfing.
Well damn
I wish Jim the best of luck in retirement and a speeding recovering from his two hip replacements that were mentioned in the press release.
Do you think that if we get enough people to petition that they'd allow us to elect the replacement on TKP? If so, I'm willing to put my name forward.
As AD, my primary agenda will be to push ESPN hard towards making every home game a night game, including those on ESPN3; having AT LEAST one Thursday night game in Blacksburg each season; ensuring that we do not lose amazing non-revenue sports coaches just because Oklahoma is willing to double their salary; and, last but not least, bringing back Stick-It-In.
In all seriousness, I wish him the best in his fight against Parkinson's. The little bit I know of the disease is devastating. He took us from occasional football success atop the Big East to national relevance in most sports across the board. He will be sorely missed. Hopefully whoever we bring in doesn't lose a beat on that front.
I think Leal should get his chance to shine finally. He's deserving.
#LealForAD
I work in a neurology lab that conducts Parkinson's research, and I can tell you that not too many people make it nine years at their job after being diagnosed. It's a dastardly disease that takes a toll quickly on those who are afflicted by it.
Jim Weaver has had a hell of a career at VT and I wish him all the best as he fights Parkinson's.
Here is ESPN's coverage:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9966744/virginia-tech-hokie...
Good luck to "stickITin" weaver!
Not gonna act like I'm not happy that he's leaving, but it's sad that he's leaving because of health concerns. I might not like him as an AD, but there's no reason to wish anything bad on him health-wise. Hope he gets better and the hip replacement goes well.
There's not much that I can say that hasn't already been said. As much as I gave Weaver some flak for some of his decisions, I see that he did his job well. The VT Athletics Department has done well under his leadership, and for that I thank him and the entire staff there.
Much of my professional life has been spent researching Alzheimer's, which generally also leads to a lot of reading about Parkinson's, given some similarities on the molecular level. It is a devastating disease, and I applaud his strength in continuing his work. I wish him the best in his retirement and I sincerely hope that he receives the best treatment possible to maximize his quality of life.
He has done the Hokie Nation proud. Best wishes, Jim.
While we all don't like him all the time, he has done some great things for our university (including running the athletic department at a profit for years, rare for a large D1 school). It's unfortunate to see his health issues forcing him to step away from a job he loves. Best of luck to you, Jim Weaver!
I listened to ESPN Blacksburg today and they talked about JMU AD Jeff Bourne as a name that could be brought up
I had many battles and complaints about Weaver over the years including:
But overall he was a great AD for the school and I wish him well.
-Agree
-Agree
-I kinda like it
-Just since I was a student - Nebraska, Alabama, and Boise State. Also has us scheduled to play tOSU, Wisconsin, and Tennessee in the biggest football game ever. Not bad if you ask me.
-Nothin wrong with honoring some Hokie greats but I agree it gets old sometimes.