T.R. Perna ’92 returns for the third year of his second stint as an assistant coach with the Union College football team in 2026, currently serving as the team’s cornerbacks coach.
In his first year back at Union in 2023, Perna coached the running backs as Michael Fiore '25 and Jonathan Anderson '25 became the first teammates in Union history - and one of only 27 tandems in Division III history - to both rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.
Perna previously served as an assistant coach at Union for 16 seasons from 1999-2014, coaching multiple different units to success. During his initial coaching tenure on campus, Perna helped Union to three NCAA Tournament appearances, two outright Liberty League championships and three shared conference titles, while coaching three All-Americans - defensive end Josh Stinehour '02, offensive tackle James Masso '06 and running back Chris Coney '11 - as well as 2026 Hall of Fame inductee Justin Sievert '03.
Prior to his first stint at Union, Perna coached at Wagner College (1993-94), Norwich University (1995) and the University of Rochester (1996-1998), serving in various capacities including running backs coach, defensive line coach and linebackers coach, while also working as a strength & conditioning coach at all three schools.
A 1992 graduate of Union, Perna earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a history minor while spending four years on the gridiron. He was a member of the 1989 team that won a program record 13 games and made it to the Stagg Bowl; that team was inducted into the Union Athletics Hall of Fame as a Team of Distinction in 2011. Perna was also a coach on the 2005 squad that captured Union's second outright Liberty League championship and was honored as a Team of Distinction in 2024.
