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Professional football wasn’t in the cards for Darrell Perkins. Despite playing in 40 games with Wyoming across four seasons, he was buried in a running back room featuring future NFL players Gerald Abraham and Eric Coleman. So Perkins entered the restaurant industry after graduating, moving back home to Colorado.

After eight years, Perkins became the manager at Applebee’s and Bennigan’s. Eventually, he agreed to a Chick-fil-A owner-manager deal, becoming a franchisee.

Perkins had put football behind him. Then the itch returned. He wanted to coach in some capacity, accepting a part-time assistant job at Gateway High School. Joe Tiller, Perkins’ offensive coordinator for two seasons at Wyoming, had just accepted the head coach position at Purdue. Two years later, Perkins sold his Chick-Fil-A franchise and applied for a graduate assistant position with the Boilermakers. He turned in his stable life for a stipend salary.

Perkins bet on himself 23 years ago and gradually climbed the coaching ladder. He’s made a name for himself as a secondaries specialist and talented east-coast recruiter. Now the elder statesman manning rovers and safeties at Syracuse, Perkins is back coaching at the Power Five level and helping to boost a thinned out SU secondary back to a bowl game.

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Former Purdue graduate assistant Joel Thomas saw a smaller, “even-keeled” man grasping a binder walk into his office in spring 2000. Perkins introduced himself, sat in the other corner of the 15- by 20-foot office, and got to work. A running back and special teams player, Perkins had accepted the defensive graduate assistant position “just to get his foot in the door,” said Scott Downing, who coached alongside Perkins at Purdue and Northern Colorado.

Perkins constantly asked questions. He tried finding causes of issues or why plays succeeded for other coaches. Persistence, and fully understanding the 4-3 nickel and four down concepts that Spack ran, drove Perkins. At the time, he was one of two graduate assistants before college football programs could employ an unlimited number of coaches. Perkins led the scout team defense, assisting Thomas with study tables, breakfast and dinner checks.

“You learn how to do a lot with maybe not the same resources,” Thomas said.

Both Perkins and Thomas were in their first year coaching at the collegiate level. Thomas said Perkins brought maturity to the staff that typically is uncommon with graduate assistants. Perkins taught Thomas how to analyze players more than rally them, something Perkins had learned through managing restaurants before coming up with a solution to the issue.

At the time, Shaun Phillips, who played 11 years in the NFL, was a freshman defensive end with Purdue. He was frequently “squirrely” at study table sessions and wasn’t completing his work. Thomas wasn’t sure what to do, so Perkins met with Phillips to discuss a plan to “keep him on track.”

Former Fordham cornerback Dylan Mabin said Perkins rarely raises his voice. He watches reps before pulling a player aside, either letting them know what went wrong or how to replicate their correct moves. Perkins’ maturity from his time in the business world permeated into his coaching, beginning to assist with the safeties while hitting the recruiting trail for Purdue.

“He’s kind of like a swiss army knife,” Downing said. “His career background gave him an instant edge in dealing with people that helped him become a better coach, a more valuable coach.”

During Perkins’ first season with Purdue, the Boilermakers, helmed by future NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees, became Big 10 co-champions and earned a berth in the Rose Bowl. Being around that much talent showed Perkins the value of recruiting. Thomas said at the time, Purdue still wasn’t the recruit’s first choice, but it showed them how to have a keen eye for talent. Tiller told his staff he wanted smart players.

Perkins took that philosophy to the 11 schools he’s been at since. He wants to let players know he’s been in their shoes. He’s been buried on the depth chart, struggling to find his role on a successful team. He’s been the new guy trying to learn on the fly with a heavy workload. He’s been the cog in the program that helps coaches “sleep easier at night,” Downing said.





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Perkins leans on his past experiences. His time as a running back helped him easily transition to becoming a secondary and defensive specialist. Perkins needed to know where he was needed in protection schemes. His eyes were trained to see the whole field, and he taught his secondaries to survey.

“I never got a sense that (Perkins) felt like he was too big time for us. He treated us like we were Division I, Big 10, ACC football,” Mabin said.

By the time he’d gotten to Fordham in 2016, Perkins was a respected coach, overseeing eight NFL defensive backs during his time at UConn and Maryland. Mabin knew Perkins had “a lot of pedigree.”

He told his new players at Fordham that he could turn anyone in the room into one of the top players in the country. But at the beginning of their time together, they butted heads. Perkins held defensive back meetings nearly two hours after practice ended and frequently disagreed with Mabin about his techniques.

One day, Perkins pulled him aside at practice. He told Mabin he was on the exact path as some of his previous top players. “Let me help you get there. Keep an open mind,” Perkins told the sophomore. Mabin obliged and began working on his footwork, leading to Mabhimin having one of the most successful Rams tenures in program history. The day after he signed his first contract with the Oakland Raiders in 2019, he called Perkins and simply said “thank you for getting me here.”

“If he had started his career right out of college … his trajectory might have been even higher. I think he’s got all the qualities you need to be a head coach,” Downing said.

Published on November 2, 2023 at 1:54 am

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt