Jeff Linder

Jeffrey Michael Linder (born June 21, 1977) is an American college basketball coach and current men's assistant basketball coach at Texas Tech. Linder was previously an assistant coach at Emporia State, Midland, Weber State, San Francisco, and Boise State from 2001 to 2016.

From 2016 to 2020, Linder was head coach at Northern Colorado. 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 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 Texas Tech.

Early life and education Born on June 21, 1977, in Denver, Linder grew up in Lafayette, Colorado, and graduated from Centaurus High School in 1995. After high school, Linder first attended Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University) on a basketball scholarship. In 1997, Linder transferred to Western State College of Colorado (now Western Colorado University), where he played basketball from 1997 to 2000 playing at point guard.

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 at Colorado.

Returning to NCAA Division I, Linder became an assistant coach at Weber State under Randy Rahe in 2006. At Weber State, Linder helped guide the 2006–07 team to Big Sky Conference 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.

Northern Colorado (2016–2020) On May 1, 2016, Linder was hired by Northern Colorado 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.

In 2018–19, Linder was named the Big Sky Conference 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. Inheriting a team that won only two conference games, Linder led Wyoming to a 14–11 (7–9 Mountain West Conference) 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 Texas Tech.

Head coaching record