The University of British Columbia Athletics

Paul Orazietti enters his eighth season with the Thunderbirds. His first seven years were spent as the special teams coordinator and running backs coach. This year, Orazietti will be moving to the offensive coordinator role to fill the void left by the retirement of veteran coach Steve Buratto.
 
Orazietti spent part of the summer of 2016 as the running backs coach of Canada’s Junior National Team, leading the squad – which included T-Birds Connor Griffiths and Trey Kellogg – to a gold-medal finish at the IFAF Under-19 World Championship in Harbin, China. This was Orazietti’s fourth time representing Canada as he was the head coach of the U-15 squad from 2011-2014. He was also the special teams coordinator for the U SPORTS East West Bowl in 2015 and 2016.
 
This past summer, Orazietti served as the offensive coordinator for Team BC at the Canada Cup leading them to a 2-1 record. This was also the fourth time Orazietti was selected to coach on the provincial team.
 
A member of the T-Birds 1997 Vanier Cup-winning squad, Orazietti first began coaching running backs at UBC as a guest coach in 1998 and from 2002-05 during Thunderbird spring camps.
 
Orazietti returned to his alma mater full time after a successful stint with the Victoria Rebels of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL), where he served as head coach, offensive coordinator and director of football operations from 2005 until the spring of 2009.
 
A graduate of both Queen’s University (Arts, ‘93) and UBC (Education, ‘97), Orazietti spent six years as the athletic director and P.E. department coordinator at Canmore Collegiate in Alberta while also assuming the role of head coach and offensive coordinator of the Canmore Wolverines (high school) prior to leading the Rebels.
 
His extensive coaching and scouting resume has also seen him work with Football Alberta, the University of Calgary, NFL World League, as well as a guest coach with the Calgary Stampeders and BC Lions.
 
The former T-Bird’s on-field career began as a standout with Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Orazietti then spent two seasons with Queen’s (1989-90), one year with the Edinburgh Eagles (BFA) in Europe in 1994, and then UBC from 1995-97.