SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art University Athletics has announced Kevin Tan-Perkins as its new interim head coach for women's tennis. While current Head Coach Clarisse Baca is on maternity leave, Tan-Perkins is set to guide the ART U program after his most recent stint coaching at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

"I am excited to welcome Kevin to the team," Baca said. "Since the first conversation that I had with him, he has shown tremendous interest not only in the university, but in each student-athlete. It's definitely hard to be absent, but I am confident that Coach Kevin will continue the work that we started during the spring 2021 season."

While pursuing his master's degree in Business Administration, Tan-Perkins served as a graduate assistant with the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program beginning in 2020. The Javelinas went 8-9 overall in 2021, were one of five teams to finish with a record above .500 in Lone Star Conference play, and culminated their year competing in the NCAA South Central Regional. In a season that saw Tan-Perkins facilitating the program's daily operations including team travel, recruiting, and practices, TAMUK ended with a top 50 national ranking and seven LSC Commissioner's Honor Roll recipients.

Prior to his time with Texas A&M-Kingsville, Tan-Perkins had a three-year run as a tennis professional with the Universal Tennis Academy from 2016-19. Along with training tennis players of all ages and skill levels, he created practice schedules, evaluated potential players, organized tournament travel plans, and directed physical fitness programs.

"I'm excited to be joining the ART U program because I know this is a consistently nationally-ranked team," Tan-Perkins said. "I know Coach Baca has put this program in a position to succeed. I just want to help continue that trend and to keep building while she is on maternity leave. I'm hoping that we have a strong fall season in the tournaments that we have lined up. It's an exciting time to be in the Bay Area and I'm thankful for this opportunity to get started."

An accomplished student-athlete in his own right, Tan-Perkins was the 2011 Southwest Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Freshman of the Year while at Alabama State then went on to become a NAIA All-American in 2012 as well as a three-time NCAA Academic All-American and three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Lee University. He would earn his bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration in 2015.