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Inside Hokie Sports
Tony Robie
takes over
the helm of
the Virginia
Tech wrestling
program, and
while he and
his staff have a
lot of youth and
inexperience
on this year’s
roster, they
plan on doing
what this proud
program has
done a lot of
lately – win
by
Jimmy
Robertson
the addition of the duo, Tech became one of just three wrestling staffs
nationally—Iowa and Penn State being the others—to feature two
Olympians on the staff.
“They’re both great character guys, family guys, and hard workers who
have earned all the success they’ve had,” Robie said. “They really fit the
mold in terms of what I was looking for to bring onto the staff. Their
success speaks for themselves in terms of what they’ve accomplished.”
Robie, his two assistants, and Tyler Graff, his director of performance,
immediately put together a plan that gets the roster ready physically,
while also preparing the athletes to wrestle their best toward
the end of the season. Tech’s wrestlers traditionally peak
around NCAA tournament time, which explains
why the Hokies have finished in the top 11 for six
consecutive seasons.
Yet this Tech team will feature a different
flair, as the Hokies return just two seniors and
lost four standouts off last year’s squad—Joey
Dance (125 pounds), Sal Mastriani (157),
Ty Walz (heavyweight) and Zach Epperly
(174), who graduated and departed with a
year of eligibility remaining. This quartet
combined for eight All-America honors
over their careers.
The Hokies certainly return some talent,
led by two-time All-Americans Jared Haught
and Solomon Chishko. But half of their 10
weight classes could feature newcomers
and/or inexperienced wrestlers.
“It’s hard to replace All-Americans,”
Robie admitted. “That’s just the way it is.
That’s the situation we’re in, but we look
forward to the challenge. We’ve got a lot of
really good, young kids and a lot of talent in
this [wrestling] room, and the commitment to
success is as good as it’s ever been.”
With that said, here is a look at the 2017-18
Hokies by weight class:
125
pounds
Dance departed with 114 wins and three ACC
championships in addition to being a
two-time All-American. He won at
least 28 matches in each of his four years,
so he leaves behind quite the void.
Redshirt freshman Kyle Norstrem and
junior Ryan Haskett stand ready to fill
that void. Norstrem came in more highly
decorated, having won five state championships
at Brandon High School in Florida. Yet Haskett has
worked himself into contention for the starting role.
“I would think one of those two guys would earn that
spot,” Robie said. “Kyle was a bigger name coming out
of high school, but Ryan has done a really good job. He’s a
Virginia guy [Burke, Virginia] that has improved a lot in the
past six months. I would anticipate seeing one of those guys.
“Our schedule at 125 is going to be tough—a lot of good guys
coming in here that are highly ranked in the country with the
teams we’re wrestling. So whoever ends up in that spot is
going to have his work cut out for him and needs to be ready
to roll.”
133
pounds
Dennis Gustafson returns after a redshirt
junior season in which he went 21-8. He won
the ACC title at 133 as a true freshman
in 2014, and he finished third this
past season. Robie expects
him to be a contender for
an ACC title and All-
C
ollege athletics continues to become more
and more complex, but when it came time to
name a head wrestling coach, Virginia Tech AD
Whit Babcock boiled the decision down to the
simplest of forms.
“You don’t mess with something that’s fourth
to sixth in the country,” Babcock said, referring
to the wrestling program’s finish at the NCAA
Championships the past two years.
With that in mind, Babcock made the
common-sense move, tabbing Tony Robie,
a longtime assistant at Tech, to be Kevin
Dresser’s successor. For 11 seasons, Robie
served as the top lieutenant for Dresser, who
departed last February for the head coaching
position at Iowa State.
Dresser actually left before last season ended, and Robie served in the
interim, leading the Hokies to an ACC tournament title and the sixth-
place finish at the NCAA Championships. In the five months since being
named the head coach, he’s moved into a bigger office, changed the
décor, assembled his staff and immersed himself in recruiting.
Other than that, he’s been doing most of the same things that helped
the Tech program become one of the best in the country.
“I enjoy coming to work now as much as I ever have in
my coaching career,” Robie said. “I’m really excited for
the challenge. I’ve wanted to be a head coach for
a long time. I felt I was ready for a long time.
I didn’t see it playing out the way it did at
Virginia Tech, but it worked out for me
fantastically. I’m really excited about
the future and the challenges ahead.
I try to come to work every day and
bring great energy and commitment
to the program in all aspects of what
we do. It’s going great.”
According to those in the know in
wrestling circles, Robie has gotten off to
a terrific start as the Hokies’ head coach.
For starters, after getting the head job, he
quickly added two stars as assistants.
Frank Molinaro, a 2012 national champion
and four-time All-American at 149 pounds
while at Penn State, came to Tech after serving
as the volunteer assistant at his alma mater.
Jared Frayer, a two-time All-American at
149 pounds while at Oklahoma, arrived in
Blacksburg after working assistant stints at
Harvard, Iowa, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Both Molinaro and Frayer have been
Olympians. Frayer participated in the 2012
Olympics in London, while Molinaro competed
at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro last year. With
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