Special Jennings Has the Jacksonville Dolphins on the Cusp of a March Madness Upset
The Jacksonville Dolphins women’s basketball team takes the court Thursday in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, capping a record-breaking season and marking a milestone moment for head coach Special Jennings.
The 15-seeded Dolphins will face No. 2 LSU in the first round of March Madness on March 20. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET.
It will be Jennings’ debut as a head coach in March Madness — and her first appearance in the tournament since her own playing days as a standout college point guard.
A Season for the Record Books
Jacksonville’s road to the tournament has been nothing short of historic.
The Dolphins tied their program’s single-season win mark this year, finishing with a 24-9 record. They also set a program record for points per game at 72.9 and lead the nation in free throw attempts per game at 25.8.
The defining moment came on March 9, when the Dolphins beat Austin Peay 66-63 in overtime to claim the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Championship.
It was the program’s second championship, joining the 2015-16 squad, and it secured their second trip to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
For Jennings, the championship win was a surreal experience.
“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.”
From Stand Out Player to Championship Coach
Jennings is in her third season leading the Jacksonville University Dolphins. The team announced her hiring on April 10, 2023, making her the fifth head coach since the program began play in 1999.
The turnaround under Jennings has been dramatic. In her first year, the team finished 11-20. The following season, in 2024-25, they improved to 14-17.
Now, in just her third campaign, the Dolphins are conference champions with 24 wins — more than doubling their victory total from her debut season.
Before arriving at Jacksonville, Jennings built an impressive résumé across multiple levels of basketball.
She spent three years as head coach at Montverde Academy, one of the nation’s premier high school basketball programs.
Under her leadership, the team went 68-6 and won back-to-back GEICO High School National Championships in 2022 and 2023. That success earned her recognition as a finalist for Naismith Girl’s High School Coach of the Year in 2023.
She also served in various coaching and administrative roles at the University of Illinois Chicago, Flagler College, Augusta College and Wright State before her time at Montverde.
In 2023, Jennings served her first assignment with USA Basketball as an assistant coach for the USA Women’s Nike Hoop Summit Team.
A Decorated Playing Career at Xavier
Jennings’ coaching philosophy is deeply rooted in her own experience as a player. She was a standout point guard who played for Xavier between 2007 and 2011, appearing in 131 games for the program.
She was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 performer and helped lead the Musketeers to four A-10 Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances during her time there.
Her most memorable collegiate moment came as a junior in 2009-10, when she helped lead Xavier to the Elite Eight — one of the deepest runs in that program’s history.
After college, Jennings took her game overseas, playing professionally in Finland between 2011 and 2013.
When her playing days concluded, she transitioned into coaching, driven by a desire to give back to the sport that shaped her life.
“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 for Special Jennings
Now Jennings and her Jacksonville Dolphins basketball team faces perhaps their tallest challenge yet: a first-round matchup against No. 2 LSU as a 15-seed.
Regardless of the outcome, the season already stands as a landmark achievement for the Jacksonville program — a conference championship, a national tournament berth and a collection of program records.
For Jennings, the journey from decorated player to championship-winning coach has come full circle. She returns to the stage she once graced as a college athlete, this time leading a team that has rewritten the record books under her watch.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
