Volunteer Assistant Coach – 11th Season

Scott Perelman joined the Florida men’s tennis staff in August of 2012 as the Volunteer Assistant Coach. Perelman spent three seasons in the same role at the University of North Carolina from 2010-12 before joining the Gators.

Perelman joined the Gator staff with over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, in addition to serving as the personal coach for ATP professional Chris Woodruff from 1993-99.

In 2022, Perelman assisted the team to an NCAA Quarterfinals appearance, a third-consecutive SEC regular season championship and an SEC Tournament title. In addition, sophomore Ben Shelton won the program’s second-straight NCAA Singles title, finishing the year as the No. 1-ranked player and earning Florida’s first ITA National Player of the Year award. Perelman helped coach both Ben and Sam Riffice to four All-American honors as they advanced to at least the singles and doubles quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual Championships. The team collected 26 wins as Florida became the first SEC school to win three-consecutive SEC regular season championships all with an undefeated 12-0 record. The 2022 team totaled four players with All-SEC honors - Andy Andrade, Sam Riffice, Ben Shelton and Duarte Vale - while Nate Bonetto was named to the All-Freshman team. During the 2022, the Gators etched their names in the record books as Andrade broke the all-time singles record with 134 career wins and Vale ranks second in history with 208 overall career wins. The team also put up record academic numbers in the spring semester as they put together an 3.79 GPA.

In 2021, Perelman assisted a program which won its first national championship in school history with a 4-1 win over Baylor at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. In addition to the NCAA title, the 2021 squad won the SEC title and junior Sam Riffice was crowned as the NCAA Singles Champion. For the second time in three years, Florida went undefeated in SEC play and undefeated at home overall.

During the 2013 season at Florida, the Gators finished with a 15-11 overall record, No. 16 national ranking and the third seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Florida also earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament and hosted an NCAA Regional for the sixth-straight year. UF faced 13 teams ranked in the top 25 and had six wins against teams ranked in the top 20. In 2014, Perelman helped lead the Gators to a 17-10 season, including a trip to the NCAA Round of 16.

In Perelman’s first season as an assistant at UNC in 2010-11, the Tar Heels posted an 18-7 record with a 7-3 mark in ACC regular season play. The following season, Carolina played one of the top schedules in the country and posted a 16-8 record and a second-place finish in the ACC at 9-2. Last season, the Tar Heels finished 15-8 and finished second in the ACC at 9-2 for the second year in a row.

In each of Perelman’s three years at North Carolina, the team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, including a Round of 16 appearance in 2012.

After lettering in tennis for four years as an undergraduate at Ball State University from 1973-77, Perelman began his coaching career with assistant coaching and administrative coaching positions at various colleges and tennis clubs.

In 1982, Perelman became the men’s and women’s head tennis coach at the University of Kansas in what was then the Big Eight conference. Perelman led the Jayhawk women to a 19-6 record and a second place finish in the Big Eight in the 1986 season.

Perelman became Director of Tennis at Kansas in 1988, while continuing to coach the Kansas men’s tennis team through 1992. In his decade at the helm, the men’s tennis team won the Big Eight title twice -- in 1987 and 1988. Over his last three years, Perelman went 49-27 and finished second in the Big Eight in each year. Overall, Perelman held an 86-52 mark as women’s coach and a 135-99 record as the men’s coach in Lawrence.

Throughout his time at Kansas, Perelman was in charge of Scott Perelman’s Jayhawk Tennis College, which grew from 18 campers in 1983 to over 400 in 1992, the final year of the camp.

In 1992, Perelman left Lawrence for Knoxville, Tenn., where he took the post of associate head men’s tennis coach at the University of Tennessee. During the 1992-93 season, the Volunteers reached the finals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches National Indoor Championships. Standout singles performer Chris Woodruff won the 1993 NCAA Individual Singles Championship, the only University of Tennessee player to ever accomplish the feat.

When Woodruff turned professional the next year, Perelman agreed to become his coach. Under Perelman’s tutelage, Woodruff won the 1997 Canadian Open and reached ATP rankings of No. 29 in singles and No. 60 in doubles. Woodruff and Perelman remained a coaching/player tandem until 1999.

After a short assistant coaching period at the University of Toledo, Perelman became the director of tennis at Sylvania Country Club in Sylvania, Ohio in 2002.

Perelman and his wife, Cindy, have one son, Sam.

The Scott Perelman File

Hometown: Monroe, Mich.
High School: Monroe High School
Education: Ball State University, 1977 (Business Education and Office Administration

Coaching Career:

Ball State University, Assistant Coach and Grad Asst. (1979-81)
University of Kansas, Men’s and Women’s Head Coach (1982-87)
University of Kansas, Director of Tennis, Men’s Head Coach (1988-92)
University of Tennessee, Men’s Associate Head Coach (1992-93)
University of Toledo, Women’s Assistant Coach (2001-02)
University of North Carolina, Volunteer Assistant Coach (2010-12)
University of Florida, Volunteer Assistant Coach (2012-present)

Career Highlights:

2021 National Champion with Florida
Professional tennis coach for Chris Woodruff, the 1993 NCAA Singles Champion and Southeastern Conference player of the year. Perelman coached Woodruff from being unranked to 29th in the ATP singles’ rankings and 60th in doubles.
Between 1983 and 1992, Perelman coached the Kansas men’s team to two first place and five second place finishes in the Big Eight, and never finished lower than third.
Between 1983 and 1992, Kansas’ summer tennis camp attendance grew from 18 to 400 with Perelman’s direction, with a high of 410 campers in 1991.

Recognition:

1987 Big Eight Coach of the Year
1988 & 1991 Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association/VOLVO Region V Coach of the Year
1988, 1990 & 1991 United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association Community Service Award
1991-93 NCAA Men’s Tennis Committee Chairman

Name	Title	Extension	Email Address
Bryan Shelton	Head Coach	4600	bryans@gators.ufl.edu
Tanner Stump	Associate Head Coach	4685	tanners@gators.ufl.edu
Scott Perelman	Volunteer Assistant Coach		ScottP@gators.ufl.edu
Kate Harte	Director of Tennis Operations	4600	kateh@gators.ufl.edu
Beca Floyd	Athletic Trainer	4831	BecaF@gators.ufl.edu
Campbell Harmon	Manager

Upcoming Events

Results

Completed Event: Men's Tennis at #15 University of Central Florida on May 2, 2026 , Loss , 3, to, 4

Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus Stetson - NCAA First Round on May 1, 2026 , Win , 5, to, 0

Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus #1 Texas on April 17, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4

Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus #18 Auburn on April 16, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 2

Completed Event: Men's Tennis at #36 Arkansas on April 12, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 1

2021-22 Men's Tennis Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff

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