Jeffrey Michael Linder (born June 21, 1977) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and current men's assistant basketball coach at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

. Linder was previously an assistant coach at Emporia State, Midland, Weber State,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

from 2001 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, Linder was head coach at

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

. In the midst of an NCAA investigation and sanctions over rules violations from the previous head coach, Linder led Northern Colorado to three straight winning seasons and the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament title. In 2019, the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

named Linder the Coach of the Year in men's basketball. Linder became head coach at Wyoming in 2020 where he coached the team for 4 seasons and posted an overall record of 63-59 before resigning in May 2024, to take an assistant coaching position with

Early life and education

Born on June 21, 1977, in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Linder grew up in

Lafayette, Colorado The City of Lafayette ( ) is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 30,411 at the 2020 United States census. Geography Lafayette is located in southeastern Boulder ...

, and graduated from Centaurus High School in 1995. After high school, Linder first attended Mesa State College (now

Colorado Mesa University Colorado Mesa University (CMU or Mesa) is a public university in Grand Junction, Colorado, United States. Originally established in 1925 as Grand Junction Junior College, the school was renamed to Mesa College in 1940. The college began offerin ...

) on a basketball scholarship. In 1997, Linder transferred to Western State College of Colorado (now

Western Colorado University Western Colorado University (WCU or Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergradu ...

), where he played basketball from 1997 to 2000 playing at

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

. As a senior in 1999–2000, Linder was an All-

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

honorable mention for averaging 4.9 assists per game, second best in the conference.

Coaching career

Early coaching career (2000–2016)

In 2000, Linder got his first college basketball job as assistant director of basketball operations under

Ricardo Patton Ricardo Maurice Patton (born October 23, 1958) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as senior advisor to the head men's basketball coach at Vanderbilt University. On March 9, 2011, NIU announced that Patton would not r ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. He then was an assistant at Emporia State from 2001 to 2004 under David Moe and

Midland College Midland College (MC) is a Public college, public community college in Midland, Texas. It was established as an independent junior college in 1972 and held its first classes on campus in 1975. Since that time, the campus has expanded to a main ...

from 2004 to 2006 under

Grant McCasland Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech University. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Gre ...

. Returning to NCAA Division I, Linder became an assistant coach at Weber State under

Randy Rahe Randy Michael Rahe (born June 12, 1960) is an American former college basketball coach who was the head men's basketball coach at Weber State University. He was hired on March 23, 2006, as the 9th coach in Weber State's 47-year history. Rahe an ...

in 2006. At Weber State, Linder helped guide the 2006–07 team to

regular season and tournament titles, resulting in an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Linder also helped recruit future top-10 NBA Draft pick

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Dame Time", he played college basketball for the Weber State Wi ...

. Then in 2008, Linder was an assistant coach at

under

Rex Walters Rex Andrew Walters Sr. (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the asso ...

, who promoted Linder to associate head coach in 2009. San Francisco upset no. 8

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

81–77 in overtime on January 30, 2010. From 2010 to 2016, Linder was an assistant coach at

; he was the associate head coach beginning in 2013. Linder helped Boise State qualify for the NCAA Tournament in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the first at-large NCAA bids in program history. Boise State led the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

in points per game in three of his first five seasons and shared the 2014–15 Mountain West regular season title with

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

Northern Colorado (2016–2020)

On May 1, 2016, Linder was hired by

as the 19th men's basketball head coach in program history. Linder entered Northern Colorado after the firing of B. J. Hill for numerous NCAA rules violations. After an 11–18 debut season in 2016–17, Linder led Northern Colorado to three straight seasons with 20 or more wins. The 2017–18 team had a school record 26 wins and won the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. In 2018–19, Linder was named the

Coach of the Year after leading Northern Colorado to an all time best 15–5 conference record. Northern Colorado went 15–5 in Big Sky play again in 2019–20.

Wyoming (2020–2024)

On March 17, 2020, Linder was hired at

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

as the 22nd head coach in program history. Inheriting a team that won only two conference games, Linder led Wyoming to a 14–11 (7–9

) regular season record in his debut season. Linder posted an overall record of 63-59 at Wyoming before he resigned on March 10, 2024, to take an assistant coach position at

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linder, Jeff 1977 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Colorado Basketball players from Denver Boise State Broncos men's basketball coaches Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball coaches Colorado Mesa Mavericks men's basketball players Emporia State Hornets basketball coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball coaches People from Lafayette, Colorado San Francisco Dons men's basketball coaches Weber State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Western Colorado Mountaineers men's basketball players Wyoming Cowboys basketball coaches