Art Greenlaw, who has headed the football program at Stearns High School in Millinocket for the last 15 years, has announced that he is stepping down.

Greenlaw will leave the position to become the principal at the Millinocket Middle School. He said Sunday that he was approved for that job last week.

The Belfast native directed the Minutemen to state championships in 1982 (Class B), ’84 (Class C) and ’87 (Class B), in addition to a Class B state runnerup finish in 1986. Greenlaw was selected as the LTC Coach of the Year in 1982, ’84, ’86 and ’87.

Former Dexter High head coach David Evans, who joined the Stearns staff as the Associate Head Coach last season, is expected to be the leading candidate to replace Greenlaw. However, the opening has not yet been advertised.

Greenlaw gave Evans his whole-hearted endorsement.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to try to hand pick who’s going to continue, but obviously David’s got the credentials,” Greenlaw said. “He’s got the respect of the kids, the parents. He’s in-house. Time is of the essence. We’ve Greenlaw served as vice president of the Maine Football Coaches Association in 1989 and ’90 and was a member of the executive committee of that organization from 1988-90. He also coached for two years on the East squad at the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic, this year as the head coach.

Greenlaw is a 1966 graduate of Belfast Area High School, where he played four years of varsity football before going on to play three years at Southern Connecticut State University (Class of ’70) as a defensive back.

Prior to joining the Stearns staff, Greenlaw was the athletic director, assistant football coach and head track coach at Skowhegan for five years. He also served as the interim head football coach there for one season.

Greenlaw was the head track coach from 1977-82 at Stearns and had most recently served as an assistant principal.