Jim Weaver, American football player, Died at 70

  Sports

James C. “Jim” Weaver was born on March 5, 1945, and died on July 2, 2015.

He was a college athletics administrator and former American football player and coach.

James most recently served as the athletics director at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, from 1997 to 2014.

James Weaver was born in 1945 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

He played college football at Pennsylvania State University for Rip Engle and Joe Paterno and was later an assistant coach under Paterno.

After a year as an assistant at Iowa State University and a season as the interim head coach at Villanova University, James left coaching.

In 1983, James was hired by the University of Florida athletics department in the wake of that school’s NCAA sanctions.

From there, James moved to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to become the director of athletics in 1991.

James resigned in 1994 in protest over the hiring of Tim Grgurich, who had been an assistant under the controversial Jerry Tarkanian, to be the school’s new men’s basketball coach.

Lane Stadium’s 2005 west side expansion project, during the 2005 Spring Game

Following a short stay as Western Michigan University’s director of athletics, James was hired by Virginia Tech to replace the departing Dave Braine.

Under Weaver, Virginia Tech’s athletics programs moved from the Atlantic 10 Conference to the Big East Conference and then to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Lane Stadium was expanded twice, in 2002 and 2005.

James Weaver passed away on July 2, 2015 at the age of 70 due to Parkinson’s disease.