Opens in a new window COACHING STAFF
TONY ROBIE
Head Coach
• Tony Robie has led the Virginia Tech wrestling program through eight seasons, after being elevated to head coach in 2017. With eight full seasons into his tenure as head coach, the six-time ACC Coach of the Year is still leading the Hokies into new territory.
• When Virginia Tech head wrestling coach Tony Robie came to Blacksburg in 2006, he was an associate head coach who inherited a barren program that had the potential to be great. Progressively he helped build the Hokies into one of the top programs in the ACC and a mainstay in the top-10 nationally.
• Before the 96th year of Virginia Tech wrestling, there had never been a champion in program history. In just Robie's second season at the helm, he helped guide Mekhi Lewis to the program's first national title in 2019. Then five years later, would add to the tally as Caleb Henson won the program's second title in the 2023-2024 season.
• 2023, 100th year of Virginia Tech wrestling, proved yet to be historic once again as the Hokies finished ninth at the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma for yet another top-10 finish. The Robie-led Hokies secured a second-best All-American finish in program history with five finding the podium led by Mekhi Lewis (4th), Caleb Henson (5th), Eddie Ventresca (7th), Sam Latona (7th), and Bryce Andonian (7th). Tech also made history by autoqualifying ten wrestlers to the national tournament for the first time and just the second time the program has sent ten to the NCAA Championships. The Hokies also won a share of the ACC Regular Season title, ACC Freshman of the Year for Henson's phenomenal debut season, and ACC Coach of the Year yet again marking the fourth honor for Robie in his sixth season at the helm.
• Since taking over in Blacksburg, Robie has coached two NCAA champions, guided three Hokies to five NCAA finals appearances, helped coach 31 All-American honors, and led the Hokies to seven ACC team titles.
• Robie became the first coach in the history of ACC wrestling to guide his team to conference championships in his first two seasons.
Jared Frayer
Associate Head Coach
• Jared Frayer has served as Virginia Tech's assistant coach for eight seasons, having joined Robie's coaching staff in 2017. He was promoted to his current role as associate head coach in May 2023. A 2012 Olympian, Frayer has earned a reputation nationally as an ace recruiter and a tactical on-mat coach under head coach Tony Robie.
• In just his second season in Blacksburg, Frayer helped guide Mekhi Lewis to the program's first national title in 2019. Then five years later, Frayer would help the Hokies strike gold yet again as Caleb Henson won the program's second title in the 2023-2024 season. With Frayer's help, Lewis created more history and became the first four-time NCAA All-American and just the second four-time ACC Champion in program history to end his legendary Virginia Tech career.
• Frayer was instrumental in 2020-2021 season to help guide the Hokies to a historic season, helping pilot the first undefeated season in program history since 1956-57. At 9-0, the Hokies completed their longest undefeated season in program history, topping 1954-55’s 8-0 mark. Tech won its fourth ACC Dual Meet Title after posting a perfect 5-0 ACC dual record, the second such title and fourth ACC Championship during Frayer's tenure in Blacksburg.
• In 2018-19, Frayer played a critical role in mentoring Lewis, who won a 2018 Junior World championship in freestyle and a 2019 NCAA championship. Frayer traveled with Lewis to Slovakia where the redshirt freshman won a gold medal competing in his first international freestyle tournament. In the college season, Frayer worked closely with Lewis again on his way to winning Virginia Tech wrestling’s first national championship. Two years later, Frayer would help guide Bryce Andonian to a world bronze medal at the 2021 Junior World Championships.
• Frayer helped lead Tech to the 2018 ACC championship in his first season in Blacksburg. He coached three All-Americans and five ACC champions in a year where the Hokies finished 10th at nationals.
Zach Tanelli
Associate Head Coach
• Virginia Tech wrestling’s head coach Tony Robie announced the addition of Zach Tanelli as Associate Head Coach of the program in 2024. Tanelli came to Blacksburg after eight seasons in New York City as the head wrestling coach at Columbia University. No stranger to the mats, Tanelli brings 15 years of coaching experience on top of an All-American finish, three trips to the NCAA Wrestling Championships, a finalist at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, and a Ken Kraft Midlands Championships title as a student-athlete for the University of Wisconsin.
• At the helm for the Lions from 2016-2024, Tanelli made a monumental impact on the program, setting school records in Division I and EIWA conference dual meet wins in a season, highest team placement at the EIWA Championships, team points at the EIWA Championships, and individual NCAA Championships qualifiers in a season.
• The 2023-24 campaign was a banner year for Tanelli at Columbia. They crowned their first All-American since 2013, and only their sixth in program history, in Lennox Wolak (174-pounds). Additionally, Tanelli coached both Wolak and Aaron Ayzerov (184-pounds) to EIWA Championship titles, the first time the program has seen multiple tournament champions since 1935.
• Before his time at Columbia, Tanelli spent two years as an assistant coach at Purdue University from 2014-2016 where he would help send a total of 11 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships. He guided Purdue to its first Midlands tournament champion since 1963 in Chad Welch (165) and helped see the team to a 10-win season in 2014-15. Tanelli was instrumental on the recruiting trail for the Boilermakers with a FloWrestling-ranked sixth best recruiting class of 2016.
Jared Haught
Assistant Coach
• Jared Haught enters his sixth season as an assistant coach at his alma mater.
• Haught was instrumental in upperweight success in 2023-2024 season - guiding redshirt freshman TJ Stewart to an ACC title and All-American finish at 184-pounds and mentoring Mekhi Lewis in his final year to become the second four-time ACC champion and the first four-time NCAA All-American in program history. Haught also guided Andy Smith and Hunter Catka both to bloodround finishes at the 2024 NCAA Championships at 197-pounds and heavyweight, respectively.
• In 2022-2023, Haught proved pivotal in helping Mekhi Lewis make more history for the Hokies to become the program's first two-time national finalist. Lewis made his return to the mat after a season-ending injury the previous season to claim an ACC title at 174-pounds as the No. 3 seed and claim the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award. Lewis would also be voted as ACC Wrestler of the Year under Haught's guidance, also first time a Hokie had been tabbed by the conference twice. In addition, Haught mentored Hunter Bolen in becoming the Hokies' first five-time NCAA Qualifier and a five-time ACC place-winner. In one of the most electric duals in program history, Haught was instrumental in Andy Smith's preparation en route to a dual-sealing victory over NC State's Isaac Trumble who was ranked No. 5 at the time.
• Haught was a two-time ACC champion, four-time NCAA qualifier and a three-time All-American for the Hokies from 2014-18. As a senior, Haught became only the second Tech wrestler and the first West Virginia native to make it to a national final when he reached the championship match at 197 pounds at the 2018 NCAA Championships in Cleveland. He placed sixth at NCAAs in 2016, fourth in 2017 and second in 2018.