Didier Orellana begins his tenure as the Director of Compliance at Bloomfield College of Montclair State University in 2023. Orellana had served as head coach of the men’s soccer team since 2018. He will use his strong leadership skills as a coach to help guide him in his new role in compliance.
Prior to becoming the Bears skipper, Orellana was associate head coach of the Premier Development League Jersey Express for the summer 2017. Before that, he served as an assistant coach and helped build NJIT's most successful Division I men's soccer team before becoming head coach of the Highlanders in March ‘13. After taking over as head coach ahead of the 2013 season, Orellana and his Highlanders continued to make their mark on the regional and even national scene as NJIT spent seven consecutive weeks ranked in the Southeast Region Top 10 NSCAA poll that year.
He coached the Sun Belt Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year and the Highlanders went undefeated at home during the 2014 regular season. During his tenure, seven players were nominated to the All-Region team by the NSCAA.
Orellana, who holds a bachelor's degree from Southern Connecticut State University and a master's degree from Queens (NY) College, has coached soccer at all three levels of the NCAA. He began his career as an Assistant Coach at Division II New York Institute of Technology (2001-05), before serving six seasons as Head Coach at Division III Manhattanville College (2005-11). He signed on as top assistant at NJIT early in the 2011 calendar year.
In six seasons as head coach at Manhattanville, he produced 56 wins, putting him atop the school's career coaching list. In 2009 he was honored as Freedom Conference Coach of the Year and the following year, Manhattanville was 10-6-1 in his final season before he became NJIT’s top assistant. Didier also coached the U15 New York Cosmos Academy leading them to the NPL National Championship game.
In his first college coaching job, Orellana was part of a turnaround that saw NYIT go from a 3-14 record in 2000 to a 14-2-2 record in 2003 which included a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
As an undergraduate student-athlete at Southern Connecticut, Orellana played for one of the top Division II programs in the country, winning the 1995 Division II National Championship and reaching the national semifinals in his three other seasons.
He holds licenses from the NSCAA and USSF.
Coach Orellana currently lives in Oradell, NJ with his beautiful wife, Liz and their wonderful children, Gabriel, Alejandro and Alysia.
