Derek Perkins, a former NCAA Division I swimmer, joined the Emory staff in Fall 2004.

With Perkins on the coaching staff, the Emory women's team won back-to-back National Championships in 2005 and 2006, while the men recorded a second-place national finish in 2005, and third-place national finishes in 2006 and 2007. Neither team has finished worse than fourth nationally since he came to the school. He has helped the Eagles' swimmers to nine individual National Champions, and 206 All-America certificates.

Since joining the Eagles, Perkins has helped the team maintain its role as the dominant team in the University Athletic Association (UAA), winning the conference title in each of his four seasons. He was part of the conference coaching staff of the year in 2007, and has coached two conference swimmers of the year and four conference rookies of the year.

Perkins was a four-year member of the swim team at the University of Kentucky where he was honored as the team's Most Improved Swimmer his freshman season. He was a two-time high school swimming All-American.

Perkins spent two years as an assistant coach at Transylvania University (Ky.), an NCAA Division III school. He contributed to the school's first-ever conference championship in 2003.

In the 2003-04 school year, Perkins doubled as the head coach for Lexington Catholic High School (Ky.), which finished third at the state championships and had one individual state champion.  He has also coached the Georgetown Stingrays (Ky.), a youth swim club.

Perkins graduated from Kentucky in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.