![\"ASUN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/D2NPJB5VWJCAZN7DX4AAAW5BH4.jpg\")
Head coach Special Jennings is seen celebrating the Jacksonville Dolphins’ ASUN Tournament championship.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityThriving<\/p>\nCLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Jacksonville University Dolphins women\u2019s basketball team is enjoying a historic season. <\/p>\n
They\u2019ve tied a program record for wins in a season (24) and made their second NCAA Tournament appearance ever, and first since 2016.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
LSU head coach and Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey will get some camera time for her charismatic outfits and emotions.<\/p>\n
But opposite of her will be Special Jennings, a Cleveland native who\u2019s setting the standard at Jacksonville and making her March Madness coaching debut.<\/p>\n
Head coach Special Jennings is seen celebrating the Jacksonville Dolphins’ ASUN Tournament championship.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityThriving<\/p>\n
Once Austin Peay\u2019s JaNiah Newell missed the 3-pointer as time expired, Jacksonville joyfully stormed the court.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins had just prevailed in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament championship game, with a 66-63 overtime win.<\/p>\n
Jennings said she froze in the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thinks about what it would be like to win a championship,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cAnd then when you actually get in that moment, you don\u2019t know how to feel. … I was happy that it hit zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Jennings, Jacksonville (24-9) is recording feats the program has rarely seen since its conception in 1999.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins have tied their program\u2019s single-season win mark, tied for the second-most conference wins (13), and set a program record for points per game.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins rank 60th nationwide in points (72.9) and rank first in free throw attempts (25.8) and second in makes (18.8).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal as a coach is to always put pressure on the defense, and that\u2019s playing at a pace in which it makes the defense uncomfortable,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been nearly three years \u2014 April 10 \u2014 since Jacksonville hired Jennings as its head coach after coming off an 11-win season.<\/p>\n
Jennings got to campus determined to change the culture and find the players that fit in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery university has their different fires. When you come in, you\u2019re putting out fires that you didn\u2019t start,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to hit the ground running with getting the right kids and all that, so that was my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it all started at a park across the street.<\/p>\n
Toughness<\/p>\n
Jennings grew up in her grandmother Marlene Robinson\u2019s house in the Buckeye\u2013Woodhill \u2014 formerly known as Woodland Hills \u2014 section of Cleveland.<\/p>\n
And to her benefit, it was a short walk from the Woodhill Park. <\/p>\n
\u201cI literally lived across the street from the park,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cYou take 20 steps, you\u2019re at my house from the park, it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennings took part in whatever sport was being played that day, but it was basketball that drew a strong interest.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d be out there playing with boys from the neighborhood, displaying a competitive spirit and never wanting to leave the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour best bet is to win because when you lose, you\u2019re never going to play again,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n
As a young girl, she even took part in tackle football. Jennings became the first girl to play in Cleveland\u2019s famous Muny football league, leading her team to a PAL 6 championship as a quarterback.<\/p>\n
Being a girl didn\u2019t matter to her; she just wanted to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s toughness,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re 8 to 13, it\u2019s not like you\u2019re getting hit by Ray Lewis … you just get out there and play.\u201d’<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandmother would stay on the porch and she\u2019d scream, \u2018Special Jennings!\u2019,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cIf we were in the rec, someone would come from the park to the rec, \u2018Hey, your grandmother called y\u2019all\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jennings learned how to build toughness early in life, helping cultivate her into the player and coach she\u2019d become. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou got out there, you got the scars, you figured out how to be tough,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t trade my upbringing for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"East-Tech](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BXELI2PSCFHNZJDQRBOXW3JNAQ.jpg\")
Special Jennings spent her first three years at East Tech High School, before transferring to Lutheran East.
\nJennings (L) and Ciera McGee (R) combined for 52 points in the Golden Scarabs’ easy victory over the Tarblooders Tuesday at Glenville.The Plain DealerReconnect<\/p>\n
Jennings spent three years at East Tech High School before the coach left, prompting a transfer to Lutheran East for her senior year.<\/p>\n
It was at Lutheran East where she reconnected with longtime trainer and mentor, Melvin Burke Sr. \u201cI went there to play for Melvin Burke,\u201d Jennings said. <\/p>\n
Burke was a successful girls high school coach. He\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n
Burke saw a young Jennings at the park one day, knew he wanted to train her, and connected with her grandmother about doing so.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Burke) was persistent,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cHe came, he and my grandmother formed a great relationship and then she opened up and allowed me to go … he\u2019s always done right by me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
That relationship carried into her senior year at Lutheran East, where Burke coached at the time.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She earned First Team All-State and Conference MVP honors, division MVP and MVP of the Ohio All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my guy, man,\u201d Jennings said of Burke. \u201cJust tough-nosed, hard as nails … I think a lot of my mentality, how I was as a player and stuff, came from Melvin Burke.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TSUVTMX5S5ASZDUPXMZANISGEE.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
Growing up, Jennings just knew she was going to play at Ohio State.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou from Cleveland, you from Ohio, you go to Ohio State. That\u2019s just the thing,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cBut obviously there were other people interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin McGuff, then-head coach of the Xaiver Musketeers, wanted Jennings. She took a visit and bought into McGuff\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just made it feel like home,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cI knew that I would go there and be able to be myself and he\u2019d let us hoop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennings was part of a freshman class that featured future WNBA players Amber Harris and Ta\u2019Shia Phillips.<\/p>\n
With Jennings playing for Xavier between 2007-2011, the Musketeers made the NCAA Tournament each year. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jennings led the Atlantic-10 Conference in assists during her junior and senior seasons and earned multiple conference honors.<\/p>\n
![\"Special](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TBBW6CHGZVCTNOAXPZYF2IO47E.jpg\")
Head coach Special Jennings is seen coaching the Jacksonville Dolphins during the game.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityCoaching<\/p>\n
Jennings always knew she\u2019d coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasketball was a vehicle that had that (gifted) me so many life experiences that I don\u2019t think I would have been able to afford,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cI knew that I wanted to give back to this game, the way that it\u2019s been given to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
After three years playing pro in Finland, Jennings came home and took an administrative assistant role with Wright State\u2019s coaching staff.<\/p>\n
Jennings spent three years an assistant at Division II Augusta University, before moving on to Flagler College, then Illinois-Chicago.<\/p>\n
Her first gig at head coaching came at Montverde Academy in Florida.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Coaching came naturally to the former point guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Jennings said. <\/p>\n
![\"Special](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NYHZUQTGO5FCJA6BD33SWSPEN4.jpg\")
Special Jennings.Madison Bartos, Jacksonville UniversityLooking forward<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the result, compared to the rest of the women\u2019s Division I basketball programs, Jacksonville is still young.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still a sense for instillment the program can use to thrive in the future, and Jennings plans to further ascend the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is to teach you how to play,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cHelp 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things weren\u2019t always easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll those things were trial and error,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know as a head coach, no matter how prepared you are, where you come from, every university is different.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in the end, the Cleveland native isn\u2019t straying away from adversity and aims to make her mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Jacksonville University Dolphins women\u2019s basketball team is enjoying a historic season. They\u2019ve tied a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-200374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}