s p o rt s m e d i c i n e Responsible for providing medical coverage, recognition and treatment of injuries, and rehabilitation for all 14 intercollegiate teams and more than 300 student-athletes. Tennessee Tech’s Sports Medicine department provides some of the most complete and advanced care available.
Joe
ERDELJAC
v Director of Sports Medicine West Virginia, 1988
Joe Erdeljac was named in July 2008 as Head Athletic Trainer at Tennessee Tech University. Erdeljac previously served as an Assistant Athletic Trainer at Tennessee Tech for seven years, and worked for nine years with high school athletes for the Cookeville Regional Medical Center. 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 began 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 in 1989. His first full-time position was Assistant Athletic Trainer at LaSalle University prior to joining the Tech staff. After seven years at TTU, he accepted a position in 1999 with the CRMC as Head Athletic Trainer for Upperman High School in Baxter. 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 is currently serving as president of the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society (TATS).
Assistant Athletic Trainers earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training from East Carolina University where he worked with the football, volleyball and baseball teams, and also with high school teams in the area. He served as a graduate assistant in athletics at Chattanooga for two years. Prior to beginning his collegiate studies, Fox had more than 10 years of service in the U.S. Army, spending his time on active duty as a paratrooper and combat medic. He was in Operation Iraqi Freedom II from 2003 to 2005.
ADAM GRAHAM --
Upton Dabney
Jake Fox
Adam Graham
UPTON DABNEY --
Upton Dabney joined the athletic training staff at Tennessee Tech in 2008 after serving five years at Oregon Tech where he personally handled all of the sports medicine needs for the school’s 11-sport athletic program. A graduate of Morristown (Tenn.) East High School, he earned a degree from the Tennessee Institute of Electronics, worked for several years in the computer field, and in 1992 joined the U.S. Air Force where he worked in the medical field at Offutt AFB (Neb.) for four years. In 1996, Dabney returned to school for athletic training at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and worked at the University of Nebraska Medical School. He transferred to East Tennessee State in 1998, serving as a student athletic trainer before earning his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training in 2001. He spent one year at Emporia (Kan.) State beginning graduate studies, then interned at Jacksonville (Fla.) University and finished a master’s degree in physical education while at The Citadel (SC) in 2003-04.
JAKE FOX --
Jake Fox, a graduate assistant athletic trainer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for two years, became an assistant athletics trainer at Tennessee Tech University in 2010. Fox earned his masters degree in clinical exercise physiology while at Chattanooga, receiving it in May. A native of Canandaigua, N.Y., Fox
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Adam Graham joined the Sports Medicine staff in 2011 as assistant athletic trainer. A graduate of Western Carolina with a master’s degree from West Virginia, Graham is a native of Chapel Hill, N.C., and a 2008 graduate of Western Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training. As a student athletic trainer, he worked with the Catamount football and women’s basketball teams. During his time as an undergraduate, he also spent one summer in an internship position with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, working with the Bradenton Pirates in the Gulf Coast League. He also served in volunteer positions at the North Carolina State High School cross country and wrestling championships, and the Kentucky Bluegrass Games. As part of the WCU Athletic Training program, Graham had a stronghold on the department’s annual honors, winning the Outstanding Sophomore, Junior and Senior awards. After graduation, he spent one year in an internship position at Georgia Tech where he worked primarily with the Yellowjacket football team. His coverage also included working with the cross country and track teams, and the cheerleading squad. During 2010-11, Graham worked toward his master’s degree and served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at West Virginia University. His coverage with Mountaineer teams was with the baseball, cross country, track and football teams. He holds membership in several regional associations, and is also a member of the National Athletic Ali Trainers’ Association.
Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer
Bush
TENNESSEE TECH VOLLEYBALL MEDIA GUIDE F 2011