Bio

Philip Jennings Tabbed as Wellesley's Next Cross Country/Track & Field Head Coach (Jun 14, 2013)

The 2021 and 2015 NEWMAC Cross Country Coach of the Year, Phil Jennings is in his tenth season as Wellesley's Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach and Assistant Professor of the Practice in 2023-2024.

In 2022, Jennings brought the Blue back to the NCAA Cross Country Championship, earning a 15th place team performance. Ari Marks '22 was named a USTFCCCA Division III All-American in the same season.

In 2015-16, Jennings guided the Blue Cross Country program to their second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and a 19th place finish nationally. The Blue also captured the program's second-straight Seven Sisters Championship, doing so in record setting fashion with a Seven Sisters record team score of 16. In 2014-15, Jennings guided the Blue Cross Country program to its third appearance at the NCAA Championships, and first since 1986. Wellesley Cross Country put together back-to-back top-five finishes at NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2015.

Blue track & field has helped the track & field improve in the NEWMAC Championship standings in each of the last three years, finishing with a program best mark of 3rd place in 2016. The Blue qualified two competitiors for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 2015-16, securing a pair of All-American honors. In 2014-15, the program sent three participants to the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where all three competitors went on to finish in the top-ten in their events. Most recently, Grace Cowles '20 earned All-America honors in her first NCAA Outdoor appearance in 2019. 

Jennings came to Wellesley after spending 10 years at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), where he served as head coach for the men’s and women’s Cross Country and Track & Field teams for five years. He also spent the previous three years as the Head Coach of the Cross Country team, while beginning his career as an assistant in both programs in 2003. Under Jennings’ tutelage, TCNJ has been a perennial power; combining for 53 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Team Championships between men’s and women’s Cross Country, and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor Track & Field. His athletes have boasted 150 individual All-America awards, 90 coming with Jennings as a head coach.

Jennings has also had nine of his teams place in the top-ten at the NCAA Championships, while earning NCAA Atlantic Regional cross country titles for both men and women. He was honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) four times, being named the NCAA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year three times on the women’s side and once on the men’s side. In addition, Jennings has been named NJAC Coach of the Year 19 total times in his career.

Prior to his stint at TCNJ, Jennings served as assistant Cross Country and Track & Field coach at Division-I Rider University. During his time with the Broncs, his teams finished second at both the indoor and outdoor Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships.

Jennings ran at Hamilton College for four years, serving as a two-team captain for both the Cross-Country and Track & Field teams and earning 11 varsity letters. During his senior year, his Cross Country team finished eighth at the NCAA Regional Championships, while earning a fifth place finish at the New York State Championships.

A 1999 graduate of Hamilton with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Jennings is a Level I and Level II certified coach. He also earned his Master’s Degree from TCNJ in 2005, completing the Physical Education curriculum with a concentration in Athletic Administration.