Jeff Linder interviewed to become the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Northern Colorado in the spring of 2016 when a question from athletic director Darren Dunn caught him off guard.

Can you handle losing?

UNC had just fired head coach B.J. Hill after allegations of academic fraud and impermissible player benefits, so the school self-imposed a 2016-17 postseason ban, plus recruiting and scholarship limitations through the 2018-19 season. It left Dunn convinced the road back would be long and arduous. “He didn’t know whether or not we’d win a game for the next couple years,” Linder said.

That initial lack of faith is what makes UNC’s current season so special.

The Bears earned their 20th victory of the season Thursday at Portland State and are positioned to make a run in the Big Sky tournament in Reno, Nevada, next week. Linder’s blueprint for UNC’s unexpected basketball resurrection has also placed him among a short list of candidates well-suited to interview for the head coaching vacancy at Colorado State.

“For us to do more with less,” Linder said, “we’ve got to be really smart.”

Colorado Roots

Linder grew up in Lafayette and his love for basketball grew from the Pepsi Center sidelines when he was a Denver Nuggets ball boy through four years of middle school. A stellar high school career at Centaurus High School led him to Division II Western State in Gunnison to play for legendary local college coach Bob Hofman. Linder’s connection to Hofman, a former Colorado Buffaloes guard and assistant, paved the way for Linder to become CU’s assistant director of men’s basketball operations after graduation.

One year later, Linder began a long journey of assistant coaching stops — Emporia State, Midland Junior College, Weber State, San Francisco and Boise State — that ultimately led him back home. Linder’s resume for the UNC job included a litany of impressive accomplishments: recruiting future NBA lottery pick Damian Lillard to Weber State (and likely another in Boise State’s Chandler Hutchison), three NCAA Tournament appearances and the reputation as an offensive mastermind.

“I strongly recommended him because I knew that he was ready and I knew that he was capable,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “He’s a really smart guy and can see things a lot of people can’t.”

It was Linder’s plan for the future, though, that sold UNC that he was the right choice.

“We’re going to build the foundation with Colorado kids,” Linder said. “The biggest key is taking care of our backyard.”

Uphill climb

Linder finished the 2016-17 season at UNC with an 11-18 (7-11) record reflective of the self-imposed sanctions. Division I programs are allowed 13 scholarship players and 130 recruiting days. This season, UNC has 12 scholarships and is limited to 70 days recruiting — plus only four official visits.

“I think we got through the biggest hurdles,” Linder said. “We were never going to let the sanctions be an excuse for us not being a winning program.”

Arguably Linder’s greatest impact through his first year on the job came inside the gyms of local high school and AAU teams. Among his first signees was Valor Christian guard Jalen Sanders, who is averaging almost 10 points per game as a freshman. This fall, UNC signed forward Bodie Hume (Sterling) and guard Sam Matson (Rock Canyon) — a pair of all-state honorees who competed on the AAU circuit for the Colorado Hawks.

Hawks’ coach Simeon Boddie, when asked about Linder, said: “To be 100-percent honest, I love the guy. He really values the kids in our region more so than any other coach that I can think of in the last 10 years.”

“Growing up in Colorado and knowing a lot of people in the state, I’m one phone call away from anybody in the basketball world,” Linder said. “My connections in the state hopefully allow us to do things that haven’t been done here before.”

But Linder believes Colorado athletes alone won’t be enough to bring Big Sky titles to Greeley. That’s why this season his staff landed Arizona State transfer Andre Spight — a 6-foot-3 senior guard formerly recruited by UNC assistant coach Ken Deweese at UTEP when Spight played for South Plains Junior College. Spight has since thrived in a starring role at UNC by averaging 21.8 points.

“Coach Linder and the staff do a very good job of putting guys in positions where they are most going to succeed at,” Spight said. “I come off of a lot of ball screens and I also have some isolation plays. It definitely suits my game.”

Should Linder get an opportunity to interview for CSU’s head coaching vacancy, it’s likely athletic director Joe Parker will appreciate his coaching philosophy in the wake of Larry Eustachy’s resignation.

“If you take care of your players and treat them the right way, they’re going to play their hearts out for you,” he said. “And I think that’s what we do.”