By David Pan/Lynnwood Today editor

Meadowdale High School has tapped a former rival coach to replace longtime football coach Mark Stewart.

Ex-Lynnwood coach Mike Don is returning to the Puget Sound region as Meadowdale’s new football coach.

Two factors weighed into Don’s decision to leave Brewster High School after only one year.

“They’ve got a solid program and they’ve been solid pretty solid for six, seven years,” Don said of the Mavericks. “I really like the area. I fell in love with the area. It was an opportunity to get back over here and get back to civilization.”

Stewart, who coached at Meadowdale for 13 seasons, left to take the head coaching position at Garfield High School. Stewart compiled an 87-49 overall record and led the Mavericks into the playoffs nine times with seven state appearances.

Don had no reservations about following such a successful coach.

“Mark is a great coach and an even better person,” Don said. “I’m not thinking along the lines of replacing Mark. I want to come in and kept the momentum going. I want to put a different stamp on it.”

Offensively, Meadowdale will be a more balanced team, said Don, who added that he doesn’t anticipate many changes on the defensive side.

“Every coach coaches a different way,” Don said. “We’ll come in and do things a little differently.”

The coaching staff remains largely intact. Two new varsity coaches have been added and the freshman staff is new. Don was offered the position a few months ago but was waiting to see if there would be a teaching position available at the school. Meadowdale has an opening in the physical education department.

Don went 2-7 at Brewster last season. The Bears, a school with an enrollment of 185 students, opted up to Class A last season and played against school with numbers in the mid-300s and up.

Don went 4-15 in his two seasons at Lynnwood. He was an assistant coach at Woodinville, Ellensburg and Prosser high schools and at Central Washington University, where Don was a center during his playing days.

Next week Don will get his first look at his team during spring practices. He saw a little bit of the team on video.

“I know they have some talented kids,” Don said.