Erica Perkins has played a role as either an athlete or a coach in six of the last nine NCAA tennis championships.
Perhaps that's why MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason named her the university's women's tennis coach last June, replacing interim head coach Brett Page.
Perkins, a 2001 graduate of Washington State, began her coaching career as a head coach at Georgia Southern and went on to an assistant coaching position at William and Mary before her stop in East Lansing.
"I knew I was coming to a place with great facilities, (where) players were willing to work, willing to fight, and I knew that would kind of fit my coaching style," Perkins said Sunday after making her MSU coaching debut at the Spartan Invitational.
But becoming a head coach may have been a blessing in disguise for Perkins, who was injured halfway through college and was temporarily unable to compete on the courts.
"I realized how much I kind of missed it and how much of a great influence my college coach was on me, so I realized maybe it was something I wanted to do," she said.
So far, it's a decision she hasn't regretted.
During Sunday's matches, Perkins floated between courts, keeping an eye on how her team was faring and shouting words of encouragement to the players.
"I'm very hands-on," she said. "I'm going to be on the court. In doubles scenarios, I'm probably calling service plays. I tend to be more positive because I tend to dwell on the positives. If you tend to dwell on the negatives, you're going to be miserable all day long."
In between matches, she sat down with her players and went over certain strategies before high-fiving them back out into the action.
"When someone's in the heat of the match and they're battling, you don't have to worry about them fighting," Perkins said. "You want them to think about what they're doing well and maybe slightly change the things they're doing wrong."
Perkins' addition to the staff has already proven beneficial to the players.
"She brings so much to the table," sophomore Stephanie Kebler said. "She's so positive and energetic, and she's just so into it. You just can't help but feed off the positive energy that she gives out."
And while Perkins has been coaxing her players to do as much as they can on the court, she wants them to be working just as hard in the classroom.
"My theory is that most of us are here to get a college education," she said. "Most of these girls aren't going to go out to play on the pro tour. Tennis is not going to be their profession, so let's get them a good education."
