Central Alabama's Dave Jennings Wins National Award
Central Alabama
7/7/10

From the Montgomery Advertiser?July 7, 2010

Dave Jennings, the golf coach at Central Alabama Community College, was mentioned in this space two weeks ago. Now I have the pleasure of reporting that Jennings has won the Eaton Golf Pride Dave Williams Coach of the Year Award, presented by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Jennings is one of six coaches who will be presented the award during the Hall of Fame Banquet at the GCAA Convention on Dec. 6. The other recipients are Josh Gregory of Augusta State University, Tim Poe of the University of Central Missouri, Steve Conley of Methodist University, Kyle Blaser of Oklahoma City University and Jake Harrington of South Mountain Community College.

Gregory of Augusta State is the Division I Coach of the Year, and appropriately so, as he led his unheralded team to the NCAA championship against all the big boys.

It should be noted, though, that Augusta State didn't exactly come out of nowhere. Jay Seawell, the current Alabama coach, came to the Crimson Tide job after taking Augusta State to heights it had never achieved before.

Seawell, who became the Augusta State coach before the start of 1998-99 season, led ASU to four straight NCAA regional appearances and three trips to the NCAA Championships. Seawell's 2001 team finished seventh at the NCAAs before turning in the then-best finish in school history the following year with a fifth-place showing.

But back to Jennings, who reinstated the proud CACC program in 2001. He had led Central Alabama to six region championships since 2001 and has finished in the top 10 at the NJCAA Division I National Championships every year during that stretch.

A three-time Eaton Golf Pride Region Coach of the Year, Jennings has co-hosted the last three NJCAA Division I Championships, serves as president of the NJCAA Division I Coaches Association and has served as the NJCAA Representative At-Large to the GCAA since 2007.

Jennings led CACC to four wins during 2009-2010, and the Trojans placed in the top 10 in every event this season and finished out of the top five only three times.