Ex-Husky Offensive Line Coach Dan Dorazio Dies at 72

He experienced the highs and lows of Don James' UW football empire.

Dan Dorazio, former UW assistant coach, has died. / Saskatchewan Roughriders

Dan Dorazio will forever remain a coaching footnote in University of Washington football history, both good and bad.

In 1984, it was his clever coaching scheme that enabled the Huskies to continually trap All-America nose guard Tony Casillas and neutralize him, and run through a powerful Oklahoma defense at the Orange Bowl and emerge with a 28-17 victory.

Four years later, Dorazio became the first coach ever fired by the legendary Don James after the UW missed out on its first bowl game in a decade and someone had to be a scapegoat.

On Tuesday, Dorazio died in the Abbotsford, British Columbia, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 72.

Dorazio's connection to James ran deeper than most, which made his firing all the more complicating following a 6-5 UW season in which the Huskies struggled to move the ball and the offensive line didn't live up to its advance billing.

This diminutive man was a running back for James at Kent State and then a graduate assistant and his offensive-line coach. He spent the 1975 and 1979 seasons in Montlake as a UW graduate assistant coach.

After four seasons at the Georgia Tech line coach, Dorazio joined his mentor one more time in Seattle.

When his first season with the Huskies ended up against Oklahoma, Dorazio devised a trap in which his linemen trapped the Sooners 17 times, permitting tailback Jacque Robinson to run 28 times for 135 yards and a touchdown against linebacker Brian Bosworth, Casillas and a host of other standout defenders.

The Huskies, however, fell off in a big way in 1988 with a line expected to dominate and it cost Dorazio his job. James replaced him with Keith Gilbertson, who would become the architect for the 1991 national championship team and ultimately the UW head coach in 2003-04.

''It was a tremendous disappointment with a veteran, talented group,'' Dorazio said back then. ''Maybe we just expected more out of them. Maybe we fell short in a lot of areas. I'm in charge, I'm responsible for those guys. I'm willing to accept that.''

Said James, "It was a gut-wrenching decision."

Dorazio also coached collegiately for Boston, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Maryland, Northern Iowa and San Jose State. Yet it was in the pros, in the Canadian Football League, in which he made a coaching name for himself.

He joined the Calgary Stampeders in 1998 and coached 22 seasons up north, 15 for the BC Lions. He also had stops with the

Boston University before moving to Calgary, Alberta Canada in 1998 and joining the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Calgary Stampeders. He also had stops with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts. He shared in four Grey Cup-winning teams – two with Calgary and two with BC.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington