REPORT: Jeff Linder leaving Wyoming to join Texas Tech staff

After four seasons as the head coach at Wyoming, Jeff Linder has reportedly resigned to become the lead assistant on Grant McCasland‘s staff at Texas Tech. Linder went 63-59 with the Cowboys, going to the NCAA Tournament in 2022. He previously spent four years as the head coach at Northern Colorado.

Linder is a Colorado-native who has worked as an assistant at Boise State, San Francisco and Weber State, among other stops. The 46-year old was named Big Sky COY in 2019 after leading the UNC Bears his second of three-straight 21+ win seasons, and the year prior coached the team to a CIT crown.

The University signed Linder to an extension in March 2022 that would have kept him in Laramie through the 2026-27 season. He (and Texas Tech) will reportedly owe Wyoming in the neighborhood of $700k for breaking the deal early.

In what is a growing trend in the NIL Era, Linder becomes the fourth mid- or low-major head coach to resign in favor of a staff job elsewhere, joining Dan Engelstad (now at Syracuse), Gerald Gillion (LIU) and Mark Slessinger (Indiana State).

credit to Wyoming Athletics for the image