Macalester College Athletics

Recruiting Areas: MN, (952, 651), WI (715, 618)

Hired in January, 2008, Tony Jennison is the 28th head coach in the 126-year history of the Macalester football program.

During Jennison's tenure as head football coach, Macalester has made unprecedented progress toward becoming a highly-respected program in the Upper Midwest. Under Jennison’s direction, the Scots have strung together the best decade in school history, and are 34-27 over the past six seasons. His career winning percentage at Macalester is the programs' highest in the last 50 years and he became the first coach in Macalester history to win over 50 games. 

In 2017, Jennison recorded his 51st victory at Macalester to become the program’s all-time winningest coach. The Scots finished 5-5 overall and graduated 18 seniors, the winningest four-year class in Macalester football history. Jennison’s career record in 12 seasons at Macalester is 60-59.

Jennison led Macalester to a history-making season in 2014 as the Scots clinched the Midwest Conference Championship title and were the first outright conference champions in 87 years at Macalester. The 2014 Macalester team recorded the most season wins in school history with nine and capped off a momentous year with a trip to the NCAA National Playoffs (Macalester's first trip in school history spanning 121 years of football). With the team’s success came individual accolades, as Jennison was crowned the 2014 Midwest Conference North Division Coach of the Year and named by the American Football Coaches Association as NCAA DIII Region 5 Coach of the Year.

"My vision for the Mac football program," coach Jennison says, "is to build a nationally-reputable football program, one that mirrors the academic-excellence at Macalester, all while helping the young men in our program to become better people, students and athletes. We want the Macalester football experience to be one that is very rewarding, meaningful and one that enhances the overall educational experience."

Jennison, originally from southeastern Minnesota, was a standout in football and baseball at Mayo High School in Rochester. After spending one year at the University of Minnesota, Jennison transferred to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he was a part of four conference and two national championship teams. As a defensive back and special teams player, the highlight of his college career was playing in, and winning, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III national championship game, as a junior in 1995.

"It became evident in college that I wanted to be in education and coach football," Jennison said. "For me, it really was always about relationships. The connections I had made with the coaches throughout my life were really special to me and helped me become the person I am today. I wanted to have that same influence on lives that my coaches had made on mine."

Jennison received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in secondary education with a concentration in coaching. He remained at UW-La Crosse for one season as an assistant secondary coach.

In 1998 Jennison began coaching at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In his first season with the Blugolds, he helped them to their best season in school history, winning a conference championship and reaching the national semi-finals. Jennison received his masters degree in 2000 from UW-Eau Claire in Special Education. Jennison spent four seasons at UW-Eau Claire coaching the secondary and many positions on special teams, and helped the Blugolds win two conference titles along the way.

In 2003 Jennison became the defensive coordinator at Marietta College, which competes in one of the strongest Division III leagues in the country - the Ohio Athletic Conference. In just his second season at Marietta, Jennison helped guide the Pioneers to their first winning season in nearly a decade, giving up only 20 points per game - down from the high 30’s from when Jennison took the reins two years earlier. The most memorable win was a shutout victory, which included two defensive touchdowns, over a nationally ranked team.

After spending three seasons at Marietta, Jennison moved back home to Minnesota to become the defensive coordinator at Macalester. In his four seasons leading Mac’s defense, the Scots made significant improvements in nearly every defensive statistical category. Macalester's defense forced 3.2 takeaways per game in 2007, marking just the third time a Mac defense has forced more than three takeaways per game in the last 20 years.


Career Record

School	Season	W	L	T	Pct.
Macalester	2008	4	6	0	.400
Macalester	2009	2	8	0	.200
Macalester	2010	6	3	0	.667
Macalester	2011	4	5	0	.444
Macalester	2012	6	4	0	.600
Macalester	2013	4	6	0	.600
Macalester	2014	9	2	0	.820
Macalester	2015	4	6	0	.400
Macalester	2016	7	3	0	.700
Macalester	2017	5	5	0	.500
Macalester	2018	5	5	0	.500
Macalester	2019	4	6	0	.400
Totals	12 Seasons	60	59	0	.504

  Pictured below is Jennison and his wife, Anna. They are the parents of four children: Michael (16), Elizabeth (14), Amelia (11) and Evelyn (9).