Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland has announced the hiring of Jeff Linder as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. Linder had won 143 games as the head coach at Wyoming and Northern Colorado during the last eight seasons.
Linder comes to Lubbock after four seasons in Laramie, where he guided the Cowboys to a 63-59 overall record. He led Northern Colorado to an incredible 80-50 record in four seasons, earning Big Sky Coach of the Year honors in 2018-19. His time at Wyoming was marked by a 25-9 record in 2021-22 and an at-large bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
During that season, the Cowboys were ranked as high as No. 22, and he was named to the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Werner Naismith Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List as one of 15 coaches nationwide.
Linder served as McCasland’s assistant coach at Midland College for two seasons, including the 2005-06 season, when the Chaps went 26-10 and progressed to the NJCAA Elite Eight. Midland went 53-16 over the course of two seasons when headed by McCasland and Linder.
Linder was hired head coach at Northern Colorado for the first time, and he led the Bears to 15 conference wins, a club record, in 2018-19 and 2019-20. He led Northern Colorado to the most wins in program history over a three-year span, including 26-12 in 2017-18 and 22-9 in 2019-20.
Prior to becoming a head coach, Linder spent six seasons at Boise State, the last three as associate head coach. Linder helped Boise State to two NCAA tournament berths and its first Mountain West Conference championship.
Boise State won 20 or more games in five of Linder’s six seasons in Idaho, including a 25-9 record in 2014-15, matching the school record.
Linder began his coaching career as Colorado’s assistant director of men’s basketball operations, working under head coach Ricardo Patton. Linder left CU after one season to work as an assistant coach on David Moe’s staff at Emporia State, where he spent three seasons. Emporia State finished 22-5 in his final season, earning the third seed in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
He also served as an assistant coach at San Francisco and Weber State. Linder led Weber State to a 36-26 overall record in 2006-07, when the Wildcats won the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament crowns and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Linder also recruited Damian Lillard to Weber State, where he was chosen sixth overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2012 NBA Draft.
A native of Lafayette, Colorado, he began his collegiate playing career at Mesa State before moving to Western State Colorado, where he spent three seasons under coach Bob Hofman. Linder was named All-Rocky Mountain Conference three times throughout his Mountaineer career.
Linder joins McCasland’s coaching team, which includes Matt Braeuer, Achoki Moikobu, and Luke Barnwell, who guided the Red Raiders to a 23-11 overall record and a berth in the 2024 NCAA Tournament last season. In McCasland’s first season as head coach, Tech finished 11-7 in Big 12 play, tied for third in the conference standings, and 15-2 at home.
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