Jacksonville University has reached to the high school ranks for its next women's basketball coach.
But before Special Jennings won back-to-back national championships at Montverde Academy, she had extensive college experience at three universities, including Flagler College in St. Augustine.
JU announced Monday that Jennings had been hired to replace Darnell Haney, who was fired last month after five years as the head coach, with a 64-75 record.
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"Special is a national championship-level coach, a world-class recruiter and has mentored some of the top women's basketball players in the country," JU athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert said in a statement. "She knows how to rebuild a program and will be an outstanding role model for our student-athletes. We are ecstatic to have Special and her wife Amber join the Jacksonville University community."
Jennings will be the fifth head coach in JU history and is being asked to return the program to the success it had under Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who went 94-63 and took JU to three postseason tournaments from 2014-18. Haney was one of her assistants during that time.
She said a vibe about JU was a motivating factor in accepting the job.
"From the moment I came onto the Jacksonville campus, this place just felt right," Jennings said in a statement. "Everyone on this campus, from the athletic department to the President [Tim Cost], share the same electricity, wanting to see the women's basketball program succeed. I want to thank President Tim Cost and Alex Ricker-Gilbert for entrusting me to rejuvenate this program and give JU fans, alumni and the city of Jacksonville a team that will exude class, confidence and excellence, both on- and off the court."
Jennings guided Montverde to a 68-6 record in three seasons, with a 26-1 mark last season. The Eagles won back-to-back GEICO high school national championships.
She was a finalist for Naismith Girl's High School coach of the year and coached 14 players who went on to Division I programs.
As an acknowledgment of her developmental acumen, she was selected to serve as a coach for USA Basketball at the NIKE Hoops Summit, a showcase of the top women's basketball prospects in the country, which was held in Portland, Oregon, on April 8.
Before going to Montverde, Jennings was an assistant at Illinois-Chicago. She previously coached at Flagler in 2017-18 and Augusta University from 2014-16.
The Cleveland native was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 point guard at Xavier and helped the Musketeers win four A-10 titles. Xavier went to the Elite Eight when she was a junior in 2009-10.
Jennings played professionally for three years in Finland.
McPhee-McCuin said in a statement that Jennings "is a home-run hire for Jacksonville women's basketball."
"She is an innovator, leader and excellent coach who has won at every level she has either played or coached at," said McPhee-McCuin, who is the head coach at Ole Miss. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that she will be successful at JU. Not only with wins but impacting those young people's lives."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU hires Special Jennings as new women's basketball coach
