Paul Gizzi serves as an assistant coach for Biola women's soccer, where he is a fixture around the program, encouraging and working with players across the roster. A Biola graduate and former professional soccer player, Gizzi has been part of the Eagles family for more than five decades as a student-athlete, coach, teacher and mission trip leader.
Gizzi's Biola story began in 1970, when he enrolled as a student and played on the freshman soccer team. He went on to play for the Eagles' varsity soccer team through 1975, the year he earned his B.A. in physical education.
After Biola, Gizzi was drafted by the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League, where he played in 1975 and 1976 before being traded to the San Jose Earthquakes for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. His NASL career included matches against Chelsea, Glasgow Rangers and VfB Stuttgart.
Gizzi then spent 1979 to 1991 at Contra Costa Christian High School in Walnut Creek, Calif., serving as a physical education teacher, athletic director and vice principal before becoming principal from 1989 to 1991. He was named the school's Teacher of the Year in 1983 and earned an M.S. in school administration from Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) in 1985.
Gizzi returned to Biola to coach the university's first women's soccer teams from 1992 to 1994. He then served as a part-time assistant and goalkeeper coach for the men's soccer program from 1995 to 2005 and for the women's program from 2005 to 2015, and as an assistant coach for men's tennis in 2016 and 2017, before rejoining the women's soccer staff in 2025. He has also taught soccer classes in Biola's kinesiology department since 2003.
Gizzi has led Biola teams on mission trips to Japan: men's soccer in 2000, 2015 and 2019; women's soccer in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2023; and women's basketball in 2026.
Since 1991, Gizzi has served with Missionary Athletes International, including 25 years as director of its Los Angeles office. With MAI's Seahorse soccer ministry, he started its USL PDL (now USL League Two) men's team and served as general manager and goalkeeper coach from 2001 to 2011, coached Seahorse men's and women's amateur teams from 1992 to 2020, and has led 38 Seahorse international teams on trips to Jordan, Israel, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Mexico and Japan since 1992.
The son of Biola graduates who attended from 1944 to 1948 and served as missionaries in Japan, Gizzi was born and raised in Japan until age 14. He attended the Christian Academy in Japan before graduating from Walnut Christian Academy, where he was named basketball MVP in 1970. Gizzi met his wife, Vickie, at Biola, and his son met his wife in one of Gizzi's soccer classes at Biola. Paul and Vickie live in La Habra and have four children and 12 grandchildren.
