Linder hooks his first fish of the day at the FishOn Ranch along the Little Laramie River. (Photo by Robert Gagliardi/WGFD) " He's an incredibly resilient guy, and that's why he's gotten where he's gotten. He doesn't give up on things. He works through them. " - Matt Smiley " But at the end of the day I'm the head coach and it's my record. You can't point fingers, blame and make excuses. I had to look in the mirror and realize there were things I could have done differently and better. I'd much rather learn lessons by winning as opposed to losing. Sometimes you have to go through that to get to a place you couldn't get before. " Last season was only the second time in Linder's seven seasons as a head coach he finished with a losing record. In his first season at Northern Colorado, where he took over a program that had a depleted roster due to rules violations by the previous coaching staff, Linder's first team went 11-18. The next season the Bears went 26-7 and won the Collegeinsider.com postseason tournament. Smiley expects a similar - to use a basketball term - rebound for Linder this coming season. " He's an incredibly resilient guy, and that's why he's gotten where he's gotten, " Smiley said. " He doesn't give up on things. He works through them. " 24 | December 2023 DAY ON THE WATER The fishing outing with Linder in mid-August was at one of his favorite places - the FishOn Ranch near Centennial - about a 30-minute drive west of Laramie. The ranch is located on the Little Laramie River and is full of good-sized rainbow and cutthroat trout. Linder knows this ranch and stretch of river well. It didn't take long for Linder to hook into his first fish, and the bites kept coming. There was a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when he landed and released each fish - an even bigger sense when one was a rainbow trout that pushed 25 inches long. There also was a little frustration when Linder failed to hook a fish, or couldn't get one to chase his streamer. Throughout the day Linder shared his experiences on this stretch of river; how he reads the water and spots fish and what seems to work to entice a bite. There was no talk about work or anything else - just fishing. Not all that different from when he is coaching his players in a game or at practice. " The beauty of fly-fishing is you really have to focus on the river and what's going on, "https://www.facebook.com/fishonranch/ http://www.Collegeinsider.com