The Roanoke Times I File photos

Virginia Tech head soccer coach Oliver Weiss takes a call from a local radio station call-in sports show while standing in a net prior to the start of practice in Blacksburg in 2007 when the Hokies went to the national semifinals. Weiss unexpectedly resigned as coach in June.

Oliver Weiss was 72-52-7 with four NCAA tournament berths in seven seasons as men's soccer coach at Virginia Tech.

It now seems clearer as to why Oliver Weiss surprisingly resigned as the Virginia Tech men's soccer coach in June.

And it has become crystal clear why athletic director Jim Weaver has said Tech wants more Americans in the men's soccer program.

According to documents obtained by The Roanoke Times under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Virginia Tech has reported 11 violations to the NCAA regarding the recruitment of eight foreign men's soccer players.

Tech's letter to the NCAA was dated June 15 -- just 13 days after the school announced Weiss' resignation.

Virginia Tech redacted the name of the coach and his title when it provided a copy of the letter to The Roanoke Times. But the letter informed the NCAA that the person "no longer serves ... at Virginia Tech."

According to the letter, the violations involved NCAA and Tech fees that the coach paid on behalf of the recruits. The players later repaid the coach, but NCAA rules do not allow a coach to "front" the money.

"We believe that expediency was his motivation," Weaver wrote about the coach in the letter.

The coach erroneously believed that what he was doing was permissible by the NCAA, according to the letter. The coach used his own money, not university funds.

Tech has not yet heard back from the NCAA regarding sanctions.

Tech told the NCAA that among the "corrective actions" it is taking on its own, the school will stop recruiting foreign men's soccer players for three years -- through the 2011-12 school year.

Weiss was 72-52-7 with four NCAA tournament berths in seven seasons at Tech, including a trip to the 2007 NCAA semifinals. Weiss, a native of Germany, recruited foreign players to improve his program.

Only one of the violations involved a player on the 2007 team. The other violations took place last year and involved players Weiss recruited for the 2008 squad.

When Weiss resigned, he said in an interview that "it was time to leave" and that he left for "personal" reasons. Weaver said that week that he couldn't talk about the "personnel issue," nor about whether Tech had uncovered NCAA violations.

The week after Weiss resigned, Tech promoted assistant Mike Brizendine to replace him. At that time, Weaver said Tech wanted "more American kids in our program."

Weaver would not explain at that time why Tech was changing its recruiting approach.

"If I answer that, I'm getting into the personnel issue of the previous coach," Weaver said in June.

The name of the sport was redacted in the letter provided The Roanoke Times, but The Roanoke Times only requested documents about men's soccer violations. The players' names also were redacted.

As part of its corrective measures, Tech declared all eight players ineligible. But five of them either have no more eligibility or have returned to their home countries. The NCAA has granted Tech's request that the other three players be reinstated.

Last October, an NCAA Enforcement staff member requested all e-mails between the coach and any foreign players he recruited for the 2007 or 2008 seasons. This was "pursuant to an unrelated inquiry," according to the letter. Tech officials discovered the violations while reviewing the e-mails, and began an investigation in January.

The investigation concluded in April, and Tech officials continued to discuss the situation in May.

The letter states that in 2007, the coach paid a $70 Tech application fee for a German recruit. He played for Tech for only one season, 2007.

The violations involving the other seven players took place between January and August of last year. For four of those players, the coach paid a $400 Tech "matriculation" fee. In the other three cases, the coach paid both a $75 NCAA Eligibility Center fee and a Tech application fee of $75 or $40.

Three of those players were from Ghana and four were from Germany. Five of them played for Tech last fall, while two others enrolled at Tech but did not play for reasons unrelated to the violations.

"No recruiting advantage was gained, as these young men were not recruited by any other collegiate institution in the United States," Weaver wrote in the letter to the NCAA.

According to last season's statistics, the foreign newcomers who played for Tech last fall were Germans Tobias Hottner and Jan Hausfeld and Ghanians Emmanuel Akogyeram, Demanya Dogbey and Philip Aseweh.

Tech considers the violations to be secondary, not major.

Weaver said Monday he has "been instructed by legal counsel" not to comment on the violations.

Those were not the men's soccer program's only missteps in recent years. A $500 fine was paid to the NCAA for a violation Tech reported in May 2008. An ex-Hokie no longer enrolled at Tech was used in an April 2008 exhibition game. The fine was paid by the coach, whose name was redacted from that letter as well. Tech suspended him for a game and gave him a letter of reprimand.

Weiss could not be reached for comment Monday.

Tech, which had to replace most of the stars of the 2007 team, went winless in the ACC last fall.