At a news conference Friday, Perrin was named the new head coach at Christian County, his second go-round with the Lady Colonels.
“They didn’t have very many applicants for the job and were struggling,” Perrin said. “It’s an opportunity to go back home, and that’s hard to turn down. It was a hard decision to make because the people of Trigg County have been awesome to me. It’s been great here, but I think Christian County needs me more than Trigg County does now because things are in much better shape here than they were.”
Perrin led Christian County to three slow-pitch state championships and the 1996 fast-pitch title, as well as a runner-up finish in 1999. He resigned in 2003 and then coached softball at Austin Peay State University for four seasons before taking the TCHS AD job.
Perrin, who has regular chemotherapy sessions for lung cancer, said he doesn’t plan to coach for more than a season or two due to his health, but he saw his former program in need and felt the call to help.
“I’m limited to what I can do,” Perrin said. “I’m going there to keep things together until they can get someone else a year or two down the road.
“I don’t plan on being there six or seven years because I may not live that long. The kind of cancer I have usually leaves you with about five years, and I’ve already burned a year and a half of that. With the time I have left, I want to be a positive factor in other people’s lives and make this a better world if I can. One of the talents I have is coaching, and if that’s what I need to do with the time I have left, that’s what I want to do.”
Perrin will be inducted into the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame on April 12, 2012.
“I want our next athletic director to fill the position the way Coach Perrin has,” TCHS principal Shannon Burcham said. “He’s an example to our young people, and he’s been a positive influence on our athletic programs.”
Burcham, Trigg’s previous football head coach and assistant athletic director, is in the process of finding his football replacement as well as filling open teaching positions in his new role as TCHS principal. He said he hopes to fill the athletic director’s position soon, and Perrin said he intends to stay at TCHS through the next couple weeks to help with the transition.
“I want to thank the people of Trigg County,” Perrin said. “I appreciate the prayers, and I hope they’ll keep praying for me because it’s in God’s hands.”
