Joe Erdeljac was named in July 2008 as Head Athletic Trainer at Tennessee Tech University, taking over the role from his former mentor, David Green. Erdeljac previously served as an Assistant Athletic Trainer at Tennessee Tech under Green for seven years, and worked for nine years with high school athletes for the Cookeville Regional Medical Center. Overall, he is currently in his 11th year at Tech.

Erdeljac was at Tech from 1992 to 1999. During that time, he was the Athletics Trainer for the men's basketball team and worked with the student-athletes on all of Tech's teams.
 
A native of West Virginia, Erdeljac, 47, begin his career in 1988 while an undergraduate at the University of West Virginia. Upon graduation with a bachelor's degree in Science and Physical Education, he took a graduate assistant position at Austin Peay and received his master's degree 1989.
            
From there, he accepted his first full-time position as an Assistant Athletic Trainer at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, a post he held until being hired for a similar assignment at Tech under former Head Athletic Trainer David Green.
 
After seven years at TTU, he accepted a position in 1999 with the Cookeville Regional Medical Center as Head Athletic Trainer for Upperman High School in Baxter, a position he held until recently accepting the top post in Tech's Sports Medicine Department.
 
During his time with CRMC, he was a volunteer athletic trainer at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, working with the basketball teams and other Olympic team members.

A member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), he is also in the Southeastern Athletic Trainers Association (SEATA) and recently completed a term as president of the Tennessee Athletic Trainers' Society (TATS).
 
He was recently re-appointed by the governor to the Tennessee Board of Athletic Trainers, a post he'll fill through 2014.

Joe and his wife, Jessica, have one daughter, Riley Grace, born on December 15, 2008.