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

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and current men's basketball head coach at

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. Linder was previously an assistant coach at

Emporia State Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. E ...

, Midland,

Weber State Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. 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 became a publ ...

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 The 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was a postseason single-elimination tournament of NCAA Division I basketball teams. The tournament began on March 12, 2018, and concluded on March 30, 2018. The field was composed of par ...

title. In 2019, the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

named Linder the Coach of the Year in men's basketball. Linder became head coach at Wyoming in 2020.

Early life and education

Born on June 21, 1977, in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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 24,453 at the 2010 United States Census. Geography Lafayette is located in southeastern Boulder Coun ...

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

Colorado Mesa University Colorado Mesa University is a public university in Grand Junction, Colorado. The university's other locations include Bishop Campus, which houses Western Colorado Community College in northwestern Grand Junction, and a regional campus in Mont ...

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

Western Colorado University Western Colorado University (Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 400 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergraduate areas ...

), 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 five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

. 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 re ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. He then was an assistant at

from 2001 to 2004 under David Moe and

Midland College Midland College (MC) is a 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 campus on in Mi ...

from 2004 to 2006 under

Grant McCasland Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach for Texas Tech Red Raiders. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Green to two postse ...

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

under

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

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 Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...

. Then in 2008, Linder was an assistant coach at

under

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

, who promoted Linder to associate head coach in 2009. San Francisco upset no. 8 Gonzaga 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 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

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. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

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 Benjamin Joseph Hill (born May 17, 1973) is an American college basketball coach and former head men's basketball coach at the University of Northern Colorado. He began coaching the Bears in 2010–11, when he guided them to the school's first-ev ...

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

. 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–present)

On March 17, 2020, Linder was hired at

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.

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 Sportspeople from Denver Weber State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Western Colorado Mountaineers men's basketball players Wyoming Cowboys basketball coaches