Who Is Special Jennings? Record-Breaking Coach Makes Her March Madness Debut Today
When Special Jennings took over the Jacksonville University Dolphins women’s basketball program, the team had just wrapped a losing season.
Now, less than three years later, she’s leading them into the NCAA Tournament as a 15-seed against No. 2 LSU — and the turnaround is one of the most striking in this year’s March Madness bracket.
On March 20, the Dolphins tip off against the Tigers at 6 p.m. ET. It marks Jennings’ March Madness debut as a head coach — and her first appearance in the tournament since her own playing days more than a decade ago.
From 11 Wins to a Record-Breaking Season
Here’s the trajectory that makes this story so remarkable. The Jacksonville Dolphins finished 11-20 in Jennings’ first season after the team announced her hiring on April 10, 2023.
The following year, the 2024-25 squad improved to 14-17 — better, but still below .500.
This season? The Dolphins tied their program’s single-season win mark with a 24-9 record. They set a program record for points per game at 72.9 and lead the entire nation in free throw attempts per game at 25.8.
The crescendo came on March 9, when Jacksonville beat Austin Peay 66-63 in overtime to capture the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Championship.
It was only the program’s second championship, joining the 2015-16 squad, and it secured the Jacksonville University Dolphins’ second trip to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“Everyone thinks about what it would be like to win a championship,” Jennings said of her OT win, per Cleveland.com. “And then when you actually get in that moment, you don’t know how to feel. … I was happy that it hit zero.”
A Playing Career That Went From Xavier to Finland
Before she was coaching championship-caliber teams, Jennings was building a standout career of her own as a point guard.
She played for Xavier between 2007 and 2011, appearing in 131 games and earning two-time All-Atlantic 10 honors.
Her playing résumé at Xavier is stacked.
She helped lead the Musketeers to four A-10 Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances. As a junior in 2009-10, she was part of the team that advanced all the way to the Elite Eight.
After college, Jennings took her game overseas, playing professionally in Finland between 2011 and 2013.
When her playing days ended, she transitioned into coaching and administrative roles, spending time with the University of Illinois Chicago, Flagler College, Augusta College and Wright State.
The High School Stint That Put Her on the Map
The chapter of Jennings’ coaching career that arguably catches the eye most came at the high school level.
She spent three years as head coach at Monteverde Academy, and the results were dominant — back-to-back GEICO High School National Championships in 2022 and 2023, with a combined record of 68-6 under her leadership.
That run earned her recognition as a finalist for Naismith Girl’s High School Coach of the Year in 2023. That same year, she served her first assignment with USA Basketball as an assistant coach for the USA Women’s Nike Hoop Summit Team.
It was with that pedigree — a championship pedigree — that Jacksonville brought her in as the program’s fifth head coach since the team began play in 1999.
For Jennings, coaching wasn’t just the next chapter after playing. It’s a deliberate act of giving back.
“Basketball was a vehicle that had that (gifted) me so many life experiences that I don’t think I would have been able to afford,” Jennings said of wanting to be a coach. “I knew that I wanted to give back to this game, the way that it’s been given to me.”
What’s Next: A Date With No. 2 LSU
Now the 15-seeded Jacksonville Dolphins basketball team faces one of the tallest orders in the tournament — a first-round matchup against No. 2 LSU on March 20 at 6 p.m. ET.
It’s a classic David-versus-Goliath March Madness draw, the kind of game where upsets become legendary.
Whether Jacksonville pulls off the stunner or not, the story of how they got here — from 11 wins to a conference championship in three seasons — is already one of the most compelling coaching turnarounds in this year’s bracket.
And Special Jennings, making her March Madness coaching debut, is the one who built it.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
