Legendary Leader - George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas

George Smith of St. Thomas Aquinas shares principles that have helped him become one of the nation’s winningest coaches His heroes are old-school coaches like Paul “Bear” Bryant, Woody Hayes and Don Shula, and his disciplinarian style in many ways reflects an old-school coaching philosophy. But George Smith is not afraid to try something new if it will help give his football team an edge. That’s what Smith, the head coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did two years ago when he decided to have his players do Pilates exercises as part of their off-season training program. That’s the same year that St. Thomas Aquinas went 15-0 and finished the season as the consensus number 1 ranked team in the nation. “He’s very open to different ideas. He doesn’t get turned off by an idea that’s not traditional,” said Christy Cabrera Chirinos, a