Roman Trkulja has served as the Illinois State men's tennis program's graduate assistant coach since August of 2016.

A 2016 graduate of Penn State, Trkulja served as captain of the Nittany Lions’ men’s tennis team before joining Illinois State as a coach. He also worked as the assistant tennis professional at Advantage International Tennis Academy for the past two years. Trkulja was selected to represent Canada in the 2015 World University Games, held in Gwangju, South Korea. In 2014, Trkulja finished among the top-three in the Big Ten conference, while also advancing to the round of the 32 at the NCAA Team Championships.

In high school, the Toronto, Ontario, native was a member of the Canadian National Team. Trkulja was a three-time International Tennis Federation (ITF) champion and the Canadian National Champion in singles and doubles. As a member of the Canadian National Training Center, he acquired seven Ontario Provincial championships and was a six-time Canadian National Championships doubles finalist.

Not only was Trkulja a standout on the court but also in the classroom. He received a certificate of academic excellence from the student-athlete advisory board and was an Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2013-14. The business major graduated from Penn State’s Smeal College of business with a 3.07 grade-point average.