Faye Perkins - Head Softball Coach
Feb. 17, 2007

Faye Perkins, the 1996 WIAC Coach of the Year, starts her 18th season as head coach of the Falcons softball team. On March 28, 2004, Perkins posted her 300th win at UWRF when the Falcons beat UM-Morris, 9-1. Now, with 352 wins at UWRF, Perkins remains the winningest softball coach in the history of the WIAC. She coached two seasons in Missouri at Tarkio College in 1984 and 1985 where the team repeated as conference champions. Perkins’ career record is 395-338-2. Before coaching at Tarkio College, Perkins was the head coach at Collins-Maxwell High School in central Iowa for five seasons, where she lead her team to the Heart of Iowa Conference championship.

In February, 2007, Perkins was awarded a National Association for Girls and Women in Sports Pathfinder Award. This auspicious award honors women who have dedicated their lives to girls and women in sports. These founding mothers have created change and have witnessed the fruition of their efforts in the continuing growth of opportunities for women in sports.The award was established in 1991 and over 400 women have received the award.

The Falcons won back-to-back WIAC championships in 1993 and 1994. The team also qualified for the NCAA Div. III playoffs in both those seasons. Perkins has led the team to seven WIAC West Division championships (2001, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1989). The Falcons have been nationally ranked in six of the last 17 years and have had 11 seasons of 20 or more wins in the 17 years that Perkins has been at the helm. She led the Falcons to a school-record 28 wins in 1993. Perkins has coached 68 All-American Scholar-Athletes and her 1993-94 team had the second highest overall grade point average in all of Div. III fastpitch. Four of her athletes have won the WIAC Scholar-Athlete award— Kim Zarling, Amy Stenson, Amy Brooke, and Anna Poulter. Perkins has coached 12 Regional All-Americans and 59 of her student-athletes have been named to All-WIAC teams.

Perkins is a firm believer in the basics of the game and teaches them to her athletes. She also believes that getting along together as a team (on and off the field), working, cooperating and having fun are keys to success. “Being involved in athletics is much more than winning and losing. It is learning about yourself and how to get along with others. Athletics can be an important part of a person’s educational experience. The lessons that you learn on the field can be just as valuable as the lessons learned in the classroom. I want athletic participation to be a positive learning experience for my players as well as for myself and the entire coaching staff,” Perkins said.

As a high school athlete, Perkins competed in softball, track & field and basketball. The softball team went undefeated in conference play for three straight seasons and advanced to the state championship tournament twice. As a catcher, Perkins was named to the state all-tournament team twice. In 1987 she was inducted into the Iowa Girl’s High School Athletic Softball Hall of Fame.

Perkins earned her B. S. in physical education and M. S. in exercise physiology from Iowa State University. As a Cyclone she earned nine athletic letters as a member of the softball, basketball and track teams. In 1975 she earned All-American honors in track. The softball team won the Big 8 Conference championship in 1976 and 1978 and Perkins was selected to the Big 8 All-Tournament team at shortstop. In 2004, Perkins was inducted into the Iowa State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Perkins earned her Ph.D. in Health Education from the University of Utah in 1992. At UW-RF she is a full professor and the department chair of Health and Human Performance.

Perkins is particularly proud of the fact that many of her former players are now coaching softball or involved in athletic administration at the scholastic and intercollegiate levels. Some of these alumni include: Kim Zarling - Head Coach at University of South Dakota; Christine Stainer - Head Coach at UW-Stout; Nikki Fennern – Athletic Director at St. Mary’s University; Jody Porter Gabriel - Assistant Coach at UWRF; Anna Poulter - Graduate Assistant Coach at St. Cloud State University. A few of her players have played softball at the international level in Australia and the Netherlands.

Perkins is married to Joe McIntosh and has two sons, Paul (19) and Bobby (15). Family members also include two cats (Steek and Mr. Baxter). The family enjoys sports and outdoor activities such as roller blading, ice hockey, biking, horseback riding, camping, soccer, international travel and, of course, softball. In 1998, 2001 and 2005 Perkins taught in Scotland as a part of the Wisconsin in Scotland program through UW-River Falls.

Contact Coach Perkins.

Faye Perkins


The Perkins File

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