Association U Sports Athletic director Gilles Lépine | Conference Canada West Varsity teams 29 | |
University University of British Columbia Location Vancouver, British Columbia | ||
The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, and nationally in U Sports.
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Teams
Across 14 varsity sport disciplines, UBC fields 25 teams overall; notably, 13 of which compete in U Sports, and eight in the American collegiate NAIA circuit:
Football
The UBC Thunderbirds football team has won the CWUAA Hardy Trophy conference championship 16 times, which is third all-time among competing teams. On a national level, the team has won the Vanier Cup championship four times, in 1982, 1986, 1997 and, most recently, in 2015. The team has also lost twice in the title game, in 1978 and 1987. The Thunderbirds program has also yielded three Hec Crighton Trophywinners: Jordan Gagner in 1987; Mark Nohra in 1997; and, most recently, Billy Greene in 2011.
Baseball
In the summer of 1996, 30 years after the original UBC baseball program was disbanded due to budget cuts, Athletic Director Bob Phillip along with former professional Jim Murphy and community baseball coach Mark Hiscott provided funding for the present day Thunderbirds baseball. Hiscott recognized student Terry McKaig, a former collegiate player and national team member, as the one to take over the program as head coach. Since 1997, McKaig has been the driving force behind the T-Birds with support and funding from such major leaguers as Jeff Zimmerman and Ryan Dempster.
The Thunderbirds compete in the United States as the only Canadian member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). In 2001, the program reached a new level as the New York Mets made Derran Watts the first ever Thunderbird to be drafted, when they selected him in the 12th round. Since then nine more Thunderbirds have been drafted including 2007 World Series starter Jeff Francis, who recently signed a contract worth close to $50 million. T-bird baseball successes include their trip to the 2006 NAIA World Series.
Men's Ice Hockey
In 1974, the members of the Thunderbirds hockey team travelled to China to help share hockey skills to Chinese players.
Men's Rugby
Men's rugby is one of the oldest varsity sports at UBC (including the precursor to UBC, McGill University College of BC, varsity rugby started in 1906). The varsity XV now competes against the University of Victoria in a two-game, combined score series to claim the coveted "Boot". They also play a two-game, combined score series against the University of California for the "World Cup" trophy (a competition started in 1921). The varsity XV is coached by Spence McTavish (former UBC varsity rugby captain, former Canadian rugby international and captain, and former Bobby Gaul award winner), and assistant coach Rod Holloway (former UBC varsity rugby scrumhalf, and former assistant coach of Canada's National Senior Men's team (RWC 1995)). UBC's rugby program has a long tradition of producing national team rugby players (7's and 15's), most recently Jim Douglas (RWC 2003), Mike Burak (RWC 2007), Chris Pack, Ryan MacWhinney, Justin Mensah-Coker, Tyler Hotson, Eric Wilson and Harry Jones.
Men's Soccer
Notable players include: Brian Budd, Srdjan Djekanovic
The UBC Thunderbirds are the most successful men's soccer program in Canada, having won 12 CIS championships, eight more than any other school in the country.
Women's Ultimate Frisbee
Besides being a finalist in 1997, the team became the first Canadian University program to win the USA Ultimate (called UPA back then) College National Championship in 2008 held in Boulder, Colorado.
Men's Volleyball
Previously coached by Richard Schick since the 2003-2004 season, Kerry MacDonald took over the helm of the men's volleyball program following the end of the 2015-2016 campaign.
Women's Volleyball
Led by head coach Doug Reimer, the Thunderbirds captured their tenth overall women's volleyball Canadian championship in 2013, which marked the most recent national banner in a streak of six straight titles dating back to 2008. In the 2013 gold medal match, the Thunderbirds defeated the Alberta Pandas in straight sets to tie U Sports' all-time record—shared with the Winnipeg Wesmen—for holding the longest reign as repeat champion in the sport.
U Sports Championships
Women's Swimming (18)
Men's Swimming (13)
Women's Field Hockey (17)
Men's Soccer (13)
Women's Volleyball (10)
Women's Basketball (6)
Women's Soccer (6)
Football (4)
Men's Volleyball (3)
Men's Basketball (2)
Men's Cross Country
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships (7)
Women's Golf
Men's Golf
Women's Cross-Country
Facilities
Fight Song
UBC used to have a fight song "Hail UBC", written by Harold King in 1931.
A pep song with the same name "Hail UBC", written by Steve Chatman, was adopted in 2011. The lyrics go:
Hail to the Thunderbirds! Hail UBC!
Thunder and lightning — Onward to victory!
Hail to the Blue-and-Gold! Hail UBC!
U, B, C forever — Onward to victory!
NCAA membership bid
In 2005, they applied to become members of the principal U.S. college sports governing body, the NCAA. They are not the first Canadian school to try to join the NCAA; in 2000, local rival Simon Fraser, then exclusively an NAIA member, sought to join the NCAA but was turned down. At the time, the NCAA's constitution prohibited non-U.S. schools from joining; however, some observers believed the real reason Simon Fraser was turned down was that the school sought to join as a Division II school, and the NCAA did not want to set a precedent with a lower-level school. UBC, on the other hand, was reportedly interested in joining Division I. UBC's athletic budget of approximately $4 million Canadian is dwarfed by those of schools in the Pacific-10 Conference, the only BCS conference on the U.S. West Coast. However, at least two mid-major conferences with a West Coast presence, the West Coast Conference and Western Athletic Conference, had been suggested as possible future homes for the Thunderbirds.
The NCAA approved a change to its constitution on January 14, 2008 to allow Canadian schools to become members. Under a 10-year pilot program due to begin June 1, 2008, Canadian schools can join the NCAA as Division II members, and any school that meets the June 1 deadline for application can become a member as of the academic year immediately following the deadline. CIS has not officially indicated whether a school joining the NCAA under this program can retain its CIS membership. It was expected that both UBC and Simon Fraser would be among the first schools to apply for NCAA membership under this program. Simon Fraser did apply and was accepted, but in April 2009 UBC deferred a decision on applying.