Big Sky Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)
By Joey Loose
10. Big Sky Basketball coach rankings – Jeff Linder (Northern Colorado, 2016-2020)
As Linder took over at Northern Colorado in 2016, the Bears program was in rough shape. Predecessor B. J. Hill had left behind a mess, fired after multiple violations with the school. Prior to 2016, Linder had picked up coaching experience at west coast schools like San Francisco and Boise State. Now, Linder began his first head coaching job, inheriting a program suffering fallout and sanctions from Hill’s tenure.
Linder got right to work and built this program back into a Big Sky contender. Things started slow for the Bears as they dealt with that fallout, but he led Northern Colorado to 26 wins and the CIT title in just his second season. In each of his last two seasons, Linder led the Bears to second-place finishes in the conference, winning at least 21 games both times. Winning 63% of your conference games when inheriting a situation like that is pretty solid work.
Linder just accepted the head coaching job at Wyoming, taking the chance to move up to the Mountain West and take a bigger challenge. He completely turned things around in his four years at Northern Colorado and garnered great coaching experience along the way. This program could have faltered after what happened, but Linder got things back on track, setting them up for even more success in the future.