Dan Jennings (jennida99)

Daniel Ray Jennings

• School University of Southern Mississippi, William Carey College
• High School Fairhope High School

• Born September 16, 1960 in Daphne, AL USA

BR Manager page

Biographical Information

Dan Jennings was a scout and executive before being appointed a major league manager in 2015.

Jennings signed with the New York Yankees out of college, but never pitched in a minor league game. He coached Davidson High School briefly. In 1986, he joined the Cincinnati Reds as a scout, moving to the Seattle Mariners in 1988. He drafted Dave Fleming. In 1995, he was named Scouting Director of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. While there, the Rays picked Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford and James Shields. In 2002, he moved to the Florida Marlins as Vice President of Player Personnel. He was promoted to General Manager in late 2013. He stayed in the position until May 18, 2015, when he stepped down to become the team's field manager, replacing the fired Mike Redmond.

Jennings' appointment as the Marlins manager was considered puzzling by most observers, given his only managerial or coaching experience was at the high school level, and his playing experience was minimal as well. He insisted on having experienced coach Mike Goff, a childhood friend who was serving as an advance scout for the Marlins, named as his bench coach. The speculation was that owner Jeffrey Loria, who was already on the hook for the salaries of fired managers Redmond and his predecessor, Ozzie Guillen and did not want to take on another salary. The fact that Loria had gone through 6 managers since the start of the 2010 season was also a discouraging factor that would make any outside candidates think twice about accepting such a job. The Marlins lost their first five games under Jennings' watch before finally squeezing out a 13-inning, 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on May 23rd.

The Marlins' decision to make Jennings their manager puzzled all observers from the start, and did not lead to any appreciable results, as the team's play did not improve. Heading into September, the question was whether he would be able to finish the year as manager or would be fired immediately, as it was now clear to everyone that the experiment, whatever it was supposed to accomplish, had failed. It was also unclear how much damage the unhappy episode would cause to his career as an executive. He was relieved of his managerial duties after the season, being replaced by Don Mattingly. He also lost his GM job, being fired on October 29th, the day Mattingly's hiring was announced.

In January of 2016, Jennings joined the Washington Nationals organization as a special assistant to GM Mike Rizzo.

Source: 2012 Marlins Media Guide

Preceded by Michael Hill

Miami Marlins General Manager 2013-2015

Succeeded by Mike Berger

Preceded by Mike Redmond

Miami Marlins Manager 2015

Succeeded by Don Mattingly

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
2015	Miami Marlins	National League	55-69	3rd	Miami Marlins		replaced Mike Redmond (16-22) on May 18

Further Reading

• Bob Nightengale: "Marlins manager Dan Jennings has an impossible task - to the delight of many", USA Today Sports, May 27, 2015. [1]
• Bob Nightengale: "Marlins expected to fire Dan Jennings as manager", USA Today Sports, September 2, 2015. [2]

Related Sites

• AP article about Jennings' appointment as Marlins manager