Volleyball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State University head volleyball coach Tina Seals has announced this week the hiring of Don Perkins as
assistant volleyball coach. The hiring is pending the approval of the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning.
Perkins comes to Mississippi State from the State University of New York Institute of Technology (SUNYIT), where he served in 2006 as head women's volleyball coach and was overseeing the implementation of the NCAA Division III school's first men's volleyball program.
A native of East Greenbush, N.Y., Perkins is a 2000 graduate of Syracuse University, where he was a member of three league championship volleyball teams. Perkins previously served for three seasons as head coach of the North Country Albany Juniors Volleyball Club and from 2001 to 2003 as head coach and club director at Albany Men's Volleyball Club. At Albany he also assisted with the University of Albany's nationally-ranked women's volleyball team following a coaching stint at Sage Junior College in 2001.
"Don is a great addition to our volleyball staff," said Seals. "His experience as a head coach at SUNYIT and with various club volleyball programs and the High Performance Teams near his home in New York speaks well for the type of balance Don brings to the table. Don is
a hard-working team player, and his professionalism, loyalty and humility will benefit our program in many ways."
Perkins has also worked with USA Volleyball as the Director of High Performance Programs for the Iroquois Empire Region and has served as an evaluator for the USA Youth and Junior National team tryouts. He has also served as an instructor at various volleyball camps and clinics, including those at the University of Texas, the University of Florida, the University of Albany and this summer at Mississippi State
University. Perkins also holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs at the University of Albany.
Perkins, who will work primarily with MSU's middle blockers and team defense, will also coordinate team travel and scheduling and oversee opponent tape exchange and scouting.
He replaces three-year MSU assistant coach Jozsef Forman, who resigned in June to assume the volleyball head coaching post at the University of New Orleans.