After four years under DJ Baddeley, the Inglemoor High football program is, again, rudderless.

Baddeley stepped down on Nov. 18, breaking the news to the team on Monday, Nov. 21.

“It was a tough meeting,” Baddeley said. “The kids are what it’s really about, the guys, the players. They’ve done a lot of great things in terms of effort and attitude, and we’ve taken big strides in some of those things. The wins and losses didn’t correlate to [the effort], but they put a lot of work in.”

Baddeley has been a history teacher at Inglemoor High since 1996, and has coached the track and field team since 2002. Baddeley was hired as the head football coach before the 2013 season and succeeded longtime coach Frank Naish — a veteran of 34 years and the winningest coach in KingCo history at the time of his resignation.

Baddeley said he plans to coach track and field in the spring and stay on as a teacher — at least for the remainder of the year.

“I’ll be stepping away from the program,” Baddeley said. “In terms of the future, I’m not sure what that will look like.”

Inglemoor Athletic Director Lance Gatter said Baddeley approached school administration after the season was over, and that the Vikings were still in the “infancy” of searching for a new coach to fill Baddeley’s role.

“When someone who has been a part of the community for a long time has said they’ll step away, it’s sad to see that person leave,” Gatter said.

There were a variety of reasons for the resignation, Baddeley said, which comes just a few weeks after 1-9 season in which the Vikings lost several heart breakers. The Vikings came into the year hoping to break a long conference losing streak, and succeeded in beating Newport on Oct. 7, 40-28.

Inglemoor lost to Cascade, 22-21, in the season opener. Then came a 31-21 loss to Lake Washington in which starting quarterback Brayden Mills was lost for the year with an injury.

The Vikings lost to Bothell, 31-6, on Oct. 28, then dropped their week 10 consolation game to Kamiak on Nov. 3.

Baddeley went 4-35 in his four seasons as a head coach.