NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2016 season
By Joey Loose
9. Jeff Linder (Northern Colorado)
A combination of factors had seemed to doom Northern Colorado in recent years. An NCAA investigation had led to the dismissal of former coach B. J. Hill, plus the program was underperforming in recent years. The Bears had made their first NCAA Tournament just five years earlier but things had not gone well since that day. Northern Colorado was in the market for new leadership to get back on track again.
The Bears hired Jeff Linder, a longtime assistant getting his first shot at running a program. He had worked with a handful of programs, both at the D2 and D1 level, including Weber State and San Francisco. His most recent work had come in a six-year stint under Leon Rice at Boise State, helping the Broncos to greater heights in that time.
Linder worked hard to get Northern Colorado back on the map and his four years with the Bears were quite successful. He didn’t lead the program back to the NCAA Tournament but did win the CIT title in 2018. His final two teams both finished 2nd place in the Big Sky, while his final three all won at least 21 games. Fresh off that success, he departed for Wyoming in 2020, though there’s no doubt he elevated this Bears program back towards success again.