What the OP was referring to was the group as a whole is looked upon very poorly versus individuals like your son. WVU needs more like your son and less of the dopes who simply go there and party their way out, in which there are FAR too many. To add, this is occurring at a time when schools pass everyone, and do everything possible to retain students because the bottom line isn't academic rigor or integrity, its the pocketbook that speaks loudest.
Professors who wish to keep their jobs, gain tenure, etc. have been spoken to loud and clear - fail too many students and YOU are gone. Virtually everyone passes now - all its takes is effort, which makes WVU, sitting at the bottom of P5 schools by a large margin, look even worse.
His premise is pretty solid. WVU should only take the top 10% of students from each school in WV, as well as upper echelon students from other states. Everyone else goes to community college or Concord, State, Glenville, Fairmont, etc. If they prove their merits there, they can transfer to WVU if they want.
By making WVU more in line academically with the UVA's and Duke's it will not only make every WVU grad's diploma more worthy (your son's included who clearly this wouldn't apply), it would also make WVU appear much more attractive to conferences in the future.