No two teams have had more success and continuity at the coaching level than our boys and girls lacrosse teams, but this season, Dominion will see not one, but two new coaches at the helm. Dave Smith and Brad George have been named as head coaches for the 2025 season. Brad George and Dave Smith aren’t outsiders to coaching at Dominion having both been a part of Dominion’s lacrosse program for 13 and 19 years, respectively.
Since having been a part of the programs for a combined 32 years as assistant coaches, it was not a shock to the athletic community when it was announced that Brad George and Dave Smith would take the reins of girls and boys lacrosse from coaches Diane Traynor and Pete Lenotti.
“Our first thought was to make sure we have a coach who can keep the programs moving forward in the direction that we’re going, because both are very successful, and [we] want to make sure we maintain them,” Athletic Director Darrell Wilson said.
Since the two replaced state-championship winning coaches, the new head coaches have big shoes to fill. During the former Coach Diane Traynor’s tenure, girls lacrosse brought home state championships in 2019, 2021, and 2022. Boys lacrosse found similar success, in 2016 and 2021, winning state championships under former head coach Pete Lenotti.
Having been the boy’s lacrosse coach for the past 19 years, Coach Pete Lenotti has built relationships with current and former players. Senior Andrew Saglam said, “I was very saddened by it, because we only have one year left, and of course, he couldn’t stick it out, which is understandable.”
Coach Smith and Coach Lenotti have worked together for the past 19 years, and have developed similar coaching philosophies. “One of the reasons we worked [together] was because we coach the same way. We’ve always had the same kind of philosophy. We wanted kids to learn how to play and not try to be so technical [to where] coaches need to force feed plays or anything like that,” Smith said.
To keep the winning tradition for the girls side ongoing, George looks to use parental and administration support, along with strong players from all four grade levels. “We’ve got a great lacrosse program, and I just want to keep things going,” George said.
