Linklater comes to Ball State after spending the last 13 seasons (1999-2012) as the associate head coach at Dayton. He helped Dayton to the 2012 Atlantic-10 regular and tournament championship title, the Flyers also captured the regular season crown in 2009. At Dayton, seven of Linklater's pitchers were Major League Baseball Draft picks since 2000, including two major league level pitchers - Jerry Blevins '04 and Craig Stammen '05. The 2011 pitching staff ranked second in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings, set a program record in strikeouts (429) and recorded the lowest ERA in program history during the modern era (3.94).

 In addition to his tenure at Dayton, Linklater served as the head coach for the Southern Ohio Great Lakes league in the summer of 2003 where 35 percent of his roster signed a major league contract. Linklater also had coaching stints for the Fort Wayne Royals (1998-99) and IPFW (1997-99). He began his collegiate playing career as a pitcher in 1992-93 at Lincoln Trail Community College under current UD head coach Tony Vittorio. Linklater then transferred to Lake Forest College where he played football and graduated with a degree in history in 1996. His coaching career began at Lake Forest High School where he served as pitching coach from 1996-97. In December of 2002, he finished his master's degree in educational leadership at UD after earning his bachelor's in education at Indiana in 1999. Linklater and his wife, Kerry, have three daughters -- Caroline, Elizabeth and Madeline.