Paul Orazietti enters his seventh season as special teams and recruiting coordinator for the Thunderbirds.
Orazietti spent part of this past summer 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.
A member of the T-Birds 1997 Vanier Cup-winning squad, he also guest-coached running backs in 1998 and from 2002-05 during spring camp.
Orazietti returned to his alma mater after a successful stint with the Victoria Rebels of the Canadian Junior Football League, where he served as head coach, offensive coordinator and director of football operations from 2005 until the spring of 2010.
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.
Orazietti served as the head coach of Team Canada’s Under-15 squad for three years and was the special teams coordinator for Team BC from 2014-16. He was also the special teams coordinator for the East West Bowl in 2015 and 2016. 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 1994, and was at UBC from 1995-97.
