PHOTOS BY SAMMY TONG
For the coach of UBC’s Men’s Football team, winning isn’t exactly everything.
Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill wants his players to excel on and off the field, while recognizing they are woven into the fabric of a community where they live and play.
“I want the UNA people to understand that these young men are part of who you are,” says Nill. “They’re on campus like you; they’re representatives of this small community.”
The connection to community is something Nill is familiar with. He’s coached university football at St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, in addition to coaching stints at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and at the University of Calgary.
He joined the Thunderbirds in 2014 as head coach, and one of his goals is to use UBC’s football program to add value to the greater campus community.
This year, over 100 players attended training camp, which was held from August 18-29.
In the work of recruiting new players, which amount to 20-30 new faces each year, Nill says he wants to ensure that his players come to UBC to finish their degrees before starting to build their careers.
“We spend a lot of time and money making sure they become positive contributors to society,” he says.
Running back Marvyn Larozar is one of this year’s new recruits coming from Ottawa, and he affirms Nill’s approach that football is much more than a sport.
“Coach Nill was completely different from coaches who tried to recruit me,” he says. “Nill didn’t really speak about football, but who I am as a person.”
The Thunderbirds are off to a 2-1 start, with Larozar delivering some standout performances so far in the season.
On September 18 in front of more than 8,000 fans at Thunderbird Stadium, he had a memorable night with 208 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns, helping his team come back from a 10-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Regina Rams 25-20.
For Nill, there’s also great emphasis on the well-being of his players. He speaks of the “science of sport” that starts with strength and conditioning, nutrition, and sleep.
The healthcare team has a full-time nutritionist, orthopaedic specialists, doctors, and therapists.
Returning quarterback Drew Viotto from Sault Ste Marie in Ontario says he benefitted from this care after suffering a concussion. “They make sure you’re perfectly fine before you return,” he says. “For me, I was off for a couple of weeks, and I had to do all these tests to get back into the weight room and just work out.”
Along with concussion protocols, technological advances have changed the game of football. As a former player with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, Blake Nill remembers when playbooks were in binders. Now game preparation and assessing the opposition involves endless hours of watching film.
The Thunderbirds hope to improve on the 2025-2026 season, which ended with a semi-final loss to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. This year, success will come with an improvement on the field, as well as the personal development off the field along with a closer connection to UBC’s growing residential neighbourhoods.
WARREN MCKINNON IS A LONGTIME CAMPUS RESIDENT.