CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Jacksonville University Dolphins women’s basketball team is enjoying a historic season.
They’ve tied a program record for wins in a season (24) and made their second NCAA Tournament appearance ever, and first since 2016.
Today at 6 p.m., the No. 15 seed Dolphins will take on the No. 2 seed LSU Tigers in the first round of the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament.
LSU head coach and Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey will get some camera time for her charismatic outfits and emotions.
But opposite of her will be Special Jennings, a Cleveland native who’s setting the standard at Jacksonville and making her March Madness coaching debut.
Head coach Special Jennings is seen celebrating the Jacksonville Dolphins’ ASUN Tournament championship.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityThriving
Once Austin Peay’s JaNiah Newell missed the 3-pointer as time expired, Jacksonville joyfully stormed the court.
The Dolphins had just prevailed in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament championship game, with a 66-63 overtime win.
Jennings said she froze in the moment.
“Everyone thinks about what it would be like to win a championship,” Jennings said. “And then when you actually get in that moment, you don’t know how to feel. … I was happy that it hit zero.”
Under Jennings, Jacksonville (24-9) is recording feats the program has rarely seen since its conception in 1999.
The Dolphins have tied their program’s single-season win mark, tied for the second-most conference wins (13), and set a program record for points per game.
The Dolphins rank 60th nationwide in points (72.9) and rank first in free throw attempts (25.8) and second in makes (18.8).
“My goal as a coach is to always put pressure on the defense, and that’s playing at a pace in which it makes the defense uncomfortable,” Jennings said.
It’s been nearly three years — April 10 — since Jacksonville hired Jennings as its head coach after coming off an 11-win season.
Jennings got to campus determined to change the culture and find the players that fit in it.
“Every university has their different fires. When you come in, you’re putting out fires that you didn’t start,” Jennings said. “You’re trying to hit the ground running with getting the right kids and all that, so that was my focus.”
And it all started at a park across the street.
Toughness
Jennings grew up in her grandmother Marlene Robinson’s house in the Buckeye–Woodhill — formerly known as Woodland Hills — section of Cleveland.
And to her benefit, it was a short walk from the Woodhill Park.
“I literally lived across the street from the park,” Jennings said. “You take 20 steps, you’re at my house from the park, it was great.”
Jennings took part in whatever sport was being played that day, but it was basketball that drew a strong interest.
She’d be out there playing with boys from the neighborhood, displaying a competitive spirit and never wanting to leave the court.
“Your best bet is to win because when you lose, you’re never going to play again,” Jennings said.
As a young girl, she even took part in tackle football. Jennings became the first girl to play in Cleveland’s famous Muny football league, leading her team to a PAL 6 championship as a quarterback.
Being a girl didn’t matter to her; she just wanted to play.
“I just think it’s toughness,” Jennings said. “When you’re 8 to 13, it’s not like you’re getting hit by Ray Lewis … you just get out there and play.”’
When it was time for Jennings to come home, her grandmother would come outside and scream her name. The whole neighborhood knew the family, so if Jennings was instead at the nearby Zelma Watson George Recreation Center, someone would come tell her.
“My grandmother would stay on the porch and she’d scream, ‘Special Jennings!’,” Jennings said. “If we were in the rec, someone would come from the park to the rec, ‘Hey, your grandmother called y’all’”.
Jennings learned how to build toughness early in life, helping cultivate her into the player and coach she’d become.
“You got out there, you got the scars, you figured out how to be tough,” Jennings said. “I wouldn’t trade my upbringing for anything.”
Special Jennings spent her first three years at East Tech High School, before transferring to Lutheran East.
Jennings (L) and Ciera McGee (R) combined for 52 points in the Golden Scarabs’ easy victory over the Tarblooders Tuesday at Glenville.The Plain DealerReconnect
Jennings spent three years at East Tech High School before the coach left, prompting a transfer to Lutheran East for her senior year.
It was at Lutheran East where she reconnected with longtime trainer and mentor, Melvin Burke Sr. “I went there to play for Melvin Burke,” Jennings said.
Burke was a successful girls high school coach. He’d retire with 311 career wins, four state titles, and nine Coach of the Year awards. He ran the Lonnie Burton Recreation Center and would train players.
Burke saw a young Jennings at the park one day, knew he wanted to train her, and connected with her grandmother about doing so.
“(Burke) was persistent,” Jennings said. “He came, he and my grandmother formed a great relationship and then she opened up and allowed me to go … he’s always done right by me and my family.”
That relationship carried into her senior year at Lutheran East, where Burke coached at the time.
Jennings led Lutheran East to a 19-4 record and a conference championship during the 2006-07 season, while averaging 21.3 points, eight assists and six steals per game.
She earned First Team All-State and Conference MVP honors, division MVP and MVP of the Ohio All-Star Game.
“That’s my guy, man,” Jennings said of Burke. “Just tough-nosed, hard as nails … I think a lot of my mentality, how I was as a player and stuff, came from Melvin Burke.”
Duquesne guard Alex Gensler (2) blocks a shot by Xavier guard Special Jennings (1) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010.(AP Photo/Don Wright)APXaiver
Growing up, Jennings just knew she was going to play at Ohio State.
“You from Cleveland, you from Ohio, you go to Ohio State. That’s just the thing,” Jennings said. “But obviously there were other people interested.”
Kevin McGuff, then-head coach of the Xaiver Musketeers, wanted Jennings. She took a visit and bought into McGuff’s vision.
“They just made it feel like home,” Jennings said. “I knew that I would go there and be able to be myself and he’d let us hoop.”
Jennings was part of a freshman class that featured future WNBA players Amber Harris and Ta’Shia Phillips.
With Jennings playing for Xavier between 2007-2011, the Musketeers made the NCAA Tournament each year.
She became a starter by her sophomore year and helped lead to Xavier to the Elite Eight in 2010, where they suffered a 55-53 loss to Stanford.
Jennings led the Atlantic-10 Conference in assists during her junior and senior seasons and earned multiple conference honors.
Head coach Special Jennings is seen coaching the Jacksonville Dolphins during the game.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityCoaching
Jennings always knew she’d coach.
“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. “I knew that I wanted to give back to this game, the way that it’s been given to me.”
After three years playing pro in Finland, Jennings came home and took an administrative assistant role with Wright State’s coaching staff.
Jennings spent three years an assistant at Division II Augusta University, before moving on to Flagler College, then Illinois-Chicago.
Her first gig at head coaching came at Montverde Academy in Florida.
Jennings led the Eagles to a 68-6 record through three seasons, and consecutive GEICO High School National Championships, the first titles of its kind in school history.
Coaching came naturally to the former point guard.
“The levels may be different, but from the foundation standpoint of how you should go in and what you should do, it was no different at Montverde,” Jennings said.
Special Jennings.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityLooking forward
Jacksonville will take on a mighty LSU squad that leads the nation in points (94.5) and has advanced to the Elite Eight the last three seasons, including winning the national title in 2023.
Regardless of the result, compared to the rest of the women’s Division I basketball programs, Jacksonville is still young.
There’s still a sense for instillment the program can use to thrive in the future, and Jennings plans to further ascend the program.
“My job is to teach you how to play,” Jennings said. “Help with decision making and different things and putting you in scenarios that are game like so that we can be successful in real time…it becomes second nature for us.”
Things weren’t always easy.
“All those things were trial and error,” Jennings said. “You don’t know what you don’t know as a head coach, no matter how prepared you are, where you come from, every university is different.”
But in the end, the Cleveland native isn’t straying away from adversity and aims to make her mark.