by CLEVELAND, Ohio– Special Jennings understands how important the game of basketball is to her. It’s taken her places she’d never thought to be imaginable growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.
Basketball was an outlet for her. It took her from East Tech High School to Lutheran East High School to finish out her playing career in Northeast Ohio. Now–whenever she returns home and walks through the gym at Lutheran East–she’s elated to see her jersey hanging. It came after she ended her senior year with a First Team All-State selection in Division IV.
That kickstarted a prolonged playing career that even took her overseas. However, for the past seven years, she’s transitioned to coaching, where Jennings has been able to climb the coaching ladder.
It’s prepared her for this moment she’s at today.
A moment she’s thought about since first playing college basketball at Xavier University in 2007.
“I think for me, I wanted to coach when I was a player in college,” she said. “I kind of knew that. I had a niche for it and as a point guard and being a floor general, learning and understanding the game kind of been routine and became a serious passion.”
On Aug. 14, she officially became the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Montverde Academy. It’s an opportunity that has come full circle throughout the years after starting as an administrative assistant for the Wright State women’s basketball team in 2013.
“I looked at that opportunity and I thought it would be something great for myself,” Jennings said when applying for the open coaching position at Montverde Academy. “When you’re an assistant for a very long time, you learn a lot of different things and see a lot of different things and I did it for six years.
“So when this opportunity came open, I went for it because I thought it would be great. The school is phenomenal, academics are phenomenal and resources are phenomenal, so it was just an all-around great situation and I was fortunate enough to be the one they chose.”
Before getting into the coaching aspect of the game, Jennings enjoyed a decorated four-year career as a Musketeer. She played in 131 games, recording a total of 515 assists (tied for fourth-most in school history) while earning All-A10 Third Team honors her senior season. She also helped lead the team to an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament during the 2009-10 season, something she reiterated she’ll never forget.
“That’s something that not too many teams have been afforded that opportunity, especially with us being a smaller school,” she said. “That was a highlight for me as a player.”
Even after leaving Xavier, she kept close contact with coaches like Kevin McGuff and Carla Morrow–the head coach and assistant coach during Jennings’ playing days donning the blue and white. Whether it was in practice or time away from the court, Jennings always stayed curious and strived to constantly learn from them two.
“Special has really good energy, always,” Carla Morrow— now an assistant coach of the women’s basketball team at Ohio State University– said. “She was a really hard worker and I’m not surprised that she’s coaching.”
Morrow even recalls Jennings standing out at the team summer camps throughout college. When she would help coach during that time, there wouldn’t be another person as prepared as Jennings. In fact, she’d start to walk through and install plays that nobody else was doing, Morrow later explained. Jennings was just that type of player, always trying to craft a better understanding of the game.
“She was the only coach that did that,” Morrow chuckled. “Special was really serious about it and her team would always have 2-3 plays they’d be working on and to be honest with you, most of the time her team won so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s doing what she’s doing.”
While first serving as an administrative assistant at Wright State, the team won the first conference championship followed up with its first NCAA Tournament appearance. From there, she made her way to an assistant coach at Augusta University from 2014-2017. Her next stop was to Saint Augustine, Fla where she spent the 2017-18 season as an assistant coach at Flagler College.
The following two years, she was an associate head coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago, leading her up to where she’s at today. The journey of coaching at a slew of schools has been something Jennings embraces. It’s created confidence in herself and with that came no sense of nerves taking on a head coaching job.
“I didn’t feel any pressure (getting the job at Montverde Academy), I think that preparation is your best teacher and I’ve been fortunate enough to be apart of many different coaching staffs on the collegiate level and all that has prepared me,” she explained. “I took this job knowing that I could potentially get us to a national contender.”
A national contender is looking promising.
Through 17 games, her team sits at 16-1 and is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the country, according to MaxPreps.com. They are also outscoring opponents by an average of 23 points per game, setting Jennings up comfortably this season.
“Personally, I don’t think I can ask for anything better for me being a first-time head coach and how we’ve started off the season,” Jennings said. “I think I’ve done a pretty good job of adjusting to everything I needed to adjust to thus far in these early stages as me being a head coach.”
Through it all, Jennings doesn’t take anything for granted. She’s appreciative of the support and mentors that were able to help her transition into a teacher of the game.
She understands that being an assistant coach compared to a head coach comes with a big learning curve, but it’s nothing she wasn’t ready to take on herself.
“For those that say it’s not a transition, it’s definitely a transition,” Jennings chuckled. “I think that as a head coach, you have to wear so many different hats because if I don’t do my job, everything is pointed toward you and falls on you. As an assistant, you kind of have a piece of the pie. As a head coach, you’re in charge of the entire pie and so that’s the biggest thing…It’s different, it’s very different.
“I don’t know what the future holds but I’m just fixed on Montverde and what I’m doing here and trying to leave a legacy here. Whether that is one year or 10 years, I’m here.”
Special is an outstanding person. She is passionate about the game but she also has compassion for people. That makes her good for the kids she coaches. She will not only teach them about basketball, she will prepare them for life.
I’ve had the privilege of watching Special since the 6th grade. She has always been a “stand out” on and off the court. I love her and everything she contributes to the game of Basketball and Life. Continued Success
Excellent choice by Montverde! Coach Jennings has high-level basketball IQ and college level training. I’m sure her program will thrive. Best of luck!
She has been so driven an motivated since I myself have known her “ from playing football with her muni League .PAL 6 to basketball or what ever competitive sport she choose to prove she was Capable , an willing !! I respect her an proud of whom she grownup to be … happy to experience the great gifts this strong human being carries !!
I know the best is yet to come with this Great leader