Perkins joins track and field staff at UC Irvine

Jeff Perkins has been named an assistant coach for men’s and women’s track and field at UC Irvine, Anteaters Coach Vince O’Boyle announced Tuesday.

Perkins joins the Anteaters’ staff from the University of Oklahoma, where he served as an assistant coach for the men since 2005. He coached the sprints, hurdles and relays for the Sooners, who won the Big 12 outdoor championship last season.

Perkins is familiar with the Big West Conference as he served as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s programs at Cal State Northridge from 2002-05. In his three seasons with the Matadors, he coached 19 individual NCAA regional qualifiers in the sprints and hurdles in addition to nine relays. Northridge won the men’s and women’s Big West titles in 2004 and the men’s championship in 2005.

“I am excited to be back in the Big West Conference,” Perkins said in a statement. “I can’t wait to get started with the group of talented student-athletes that I will be working with here at UC Irvine. I thank Vince O’Boyle for the opportunity he has presented me.”

Perkins is a USATF Level 1 and Level 2 certified sprints/hurdles/relays and jumps coach. He is a 2000 graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he served as manager and volunteer assistant coach in 2001-02.

“I am very happy to have Jeff join our staff at UCI,” O’Boyle said. “He is one of the top young coaches in the United States and has developed some outstanding sprinters and hurdlers at the universities he has worked.”

— From staff reports