Damian Jennings was appointed the eighth coach in Dinos women’s basketball history in July 2012.
Jennings came to Calgary from Wales where he led the Cardiff Metropolitan University (formerly the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff) women’s basketball program beginning in October 2005. Under his leadership, the UWIC Archers became one of the elite teams in the England Basketball League’s Division I, winning the league title in 2010 & 2012. In 6 years Jennings turned a Division 2 outfit into a semi-professional program making 11 finals, and developing Olympic level basketball players. In his final season (2011-12) before moving to Canada, Jennings led the Archers to a 19-2 record, winning the regular season title before losing in the championship game. He was named EBL coach of the year in 2006-07 & 2008-09.
The Archers also won three consecutive British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) national titles from 2007-10 under his leadership, going undefeated through 52 games across 4 seasons.
In addition to his basketball duties, he has also been a senior lecturer in sports management at UWIC since 2004. Jennings received a First Class BSc (Hons) degree in sport development in 2001 and a Distinction in his MA in sports development and coaching in 2004, both from UWIC.
From 2007-09 Jennings was selected by Basketball Wales to complete the inaugural FIBA Europe Coaching Certificate, achieving the highest grade in the European class of 35 with the prize of leading the very first European U18 All-Star game where his team included Toronto Raptors Jonas Valanciunas & Golden State Warriors Nemanja Nedovic. - they won by 2pts
Jennings has also been involved with Great Britain Basketball since its inception in 2006 after London was awarded this summer’s Olympics, coaching in more than 110 games to date for Britain. Alongside being the Assistant Coach to the Senior Great Britain Women’s team in the build up to London 2012 he was the Head Coach of the U20 program leading them to promotion from Euro-Basket Division B to Division A, winning the European title and was named eurobasket.com coach of the European tournament. In the following year he took them to an unprecedented quarter-finals in Division A. He was then named the head coach for the British entry in 2011’s Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China. After being one of the Assistant Coach at London 2012 Olympics he was then appointed Head Coach of the Senior team and took them to the best ever finish by any Senior Great Britain basketball team in the 2013 Eurobasket finishing 9
th with a 3-3 record.
In Jennings’ first year as Head Coach of the Calgary Dinos he led them to a National Final 8’s winning the Canada West regular season with a 19-3 record, a silver medal in the Canada West Final, and eventually securing 4
th place in the National Championships. He was voted the 2012-13 ‘Coach of the Year’ by his Canada West peers.
Each year since then, Jennings has secured playoff basketball for Calgary, with 2017-18 culminating in another National Championship appearance after a bronze medal performance in conference play. Calgary would drop a close one in the opening game to the eventual national champions, Carleton, to then move on to beat McMaster and Laval to win consolation gold.
Jennings and his wife Danni, a physiotherapist, were married in 2010 and have three children; Sienna, Nixon and Zara.
SEASONS AS HEAD COACH: 13th (2024-25)
POSTSEASON APPEARANCES: Every Season (2013-2020, 2022-24)
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES: 5 (2013, 2018, 2020, 2023, 2024)
Damian Jennings's All-Time Coaching Record
| SEASON |
CONFERENCE RECORD |
PLAYOFF RECORD |
POSTSEASON |
| 2012-13 |
19-3 |
4-3 |
CW Runners-up, U SPORTS Fourth Place |
| 2013-14 |
13-9 |
0-2 |
CW Quarterfinals |
| 2014-15 |
9-11 |
0-2 |
CW First Round |
| 2015-16 |
15-5 |
0-2 |
CW Quarterfinals |
| 2016-17 |
11-9 |
1-2 |
CW First Round |
| 2017-18 |
15-5 |
5-3 |
CW Bronze, U SPORTS Consolation Champions |
| 2018-19 |
17-3 |
2-2 |
CW Semifinals |
| 2019-20 |
18-2 |
3-2 |
CW Semifinals, U SPORTS Consolation Champions |
| 2020-21 |
n/a |
n/a |
Season Cancelled due to COVID 19 pandemic |
| 2021-22 |
7-9 |
1-1 |
CW Quarterfinals |
| 2022-23 |
13-7 |
3-3 |
CW Runners-up, U SPORTS Sixth Place |
| 2023-24 |
16-4 |
0-3 |
CW Quarterfinals, U SPORTS Seventh Place |
| TOTAL |
153-67 (.695) |
19-25 (.432) |
|
All-Time Calgary Dinos Women's Basketball Coaches
Pat Dewar
Dr. Jean Leiper
Theresa Maxwell (1972-75)
Marilyn McNeil (1975-79)
Donna Rudakas (1979-90, 1991-94)
Jane Anne Smith (1990-91)
Shawnee Harle (1994-2012)
Damian Jennings (2012-present)
Dinos Women's Basketball Coaching Record History
