Dave Jennings
Phone: 513-529-8153
After claiming his 14th Mid-American Conference Championship in 24 season, Miami head swimming coach Dave Jennings looks to direct his squad to a 15th this season. Entering his 25th season as Miami mentor, Jennings' swimming formula has produced a 109-21 MAC record (.838) in dual meets. The RedHawks have gone a perfect 8-0 each of the last five years in the conference, leading to 4 of 5 MAC Championships.
Miami teams not only have collected dual meet victories but also have hoarded the hardware come MAC Championship time. His RedHawks have won eight of the last 11 conference titles. On three different occasions, Jennings has directed the RedHawks to four straight titles and has steered six different classes to perfect careers at the MAC title meet.
The 1998 MAC Coach of the Year award is his latest honor in a long line of awards and achievements.
A 1996 inductee into the Miami Athletic Hall of Fame, Jennings has earned MAC Coach of the Year honors on nine occasions, including four consecutive seasons from 1983 through 1986.
Jennings has led the RedHawks to 14 of the school's 15 MAC team titles and has coached 181 MAC individual and relay champions.
Under Jennings, 27 Miami swimmers and divers have been NCAA qualifiers, 82 have been U.S. Senior National qualifiers, and seven have been Olympic trial qualifiers.
He also has instructed four MAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year, a Miami Athlete of the Year and the Miami Athlete of the Decade for the 1980s, Tish Bucher.
Before arriving in Oxford, Jennings was a teacher and head men's swimming coach at Upper Arlington High School from 1979 through 1982. He was voted Coach of the Year in Ohio following the 1982 season.
During his tenure at Upper Arlington, Jennings also was director of the Amateur Upper Arlington Swim Club.
Prior to assuming the coaching position at Upper Arlington, Jennings served as a swimming instructor and coach of Coshocton High School, where he led the school to a top ten team placing and first conference championship.
Jennings is a 1978 graduate of Ashland College where he earned a bachelor of science degree in physical education. While at Ashland, Jennings was a member of a swimming team that placed second at the Penn-Ohio Championships and ninth at the NCAA Division III Championships.
Originally from Lexington, Ohio, Jennings and his wife Kathy have two sons, Blake (20) and Tyler (17), and reside in Oxford.
Dave’s Coaching Statistics
14 Team MAC Championships
178 Individual/Relay MAC Champions
27 NCAA Qualifiers
82 Senior National Qualifiers
7 Olympic Trials Qualifiers
Average improvement is 85.15%
