Photo by Deb Gau Bruce Remme and Rick Purrington have been working together this week to prepare for new roles. Remme will be moving to a new job with the Lake Superior School District, and starting Friday Purrington will be taking on the MPS activities director position.

MARSHALL — They’ve worked together for about 15 years — one as activities director for Marshall Public Schools, and one as a coach.

But this week, Bruce Remme and Rick Purrington are moving into some new roles.

Remme, MPS activities director since 2007, has accepted a position as community education and transportation director at Lake Superior School District in Two Harbors. Purrington, who has also been a teacher and speech coach at Marshall High School since 2007, announced this week that he is accepting the Marshall AD position.

Remme said taking on a new job after a total 27 years at MPS was both exciting and humbling.

“I feel blessed to have worked for a district that long, and for a community that supportive,” Remme said.

The MPS activities department “couldn’t be in better hands” with Purrington, Remme said. Purrington’s first day as AD is Friday. While it’s a big change from teaching, Purrington said he’s excited. It’s also been great to work with Remme over the years, he said.

“He’s a big part of the success of our programs,” Purrington said.

Remme has been part of MPS since 1994.

“Bill Swope hired me at West Side as a fourth-grade teacher,” he said. “He was a super mentor to me for a long time.”

Remme taught and coached in the district for 12 years.

“I really enjoyed my time coaching,” as well as the opportunity to work with some “hall of fame-level” Marshall coaches, he said.

In 2007, he became activities director, as an opportunity to learn a new side of school sports and activities.

“I was very happy teaching and coaching in the roles I was in,” Remme said. But at the same time, “The administrative side intrigued me a little bit.”

Remme said he’s “loved every minute” of being AD in Marshall. It was a big job — Remme said there’s really only one slow month for school activities, between the end of state spring sports tournaments in June and the start of band camps in early August. But Marshall coaches, students, school administrators and community members have all made MPS a great place to be, he said.

Remme said his new job at Lake Superior School District was an opportunity to stretch his skills in a new way, and his family has a lake cabin in the area. Now that he and his wife Carrie are “empty nesters,” going north was something they had been thinking about, he said. But Remme said Marshall has been good to him and his family.

“The opportunity to work with so many talented people is probably one of the most fulfilling parts of the job,” he said. Another thing he felt fortunate to be part of was building partnerships with the city of Marshall and Southwest Minnesota State University. Through those partnerships, Marshall athletes get a chance to compete in “top-notch” facilities like the Red Baron Arena and SMSU’s Regional Events Center.

Purrington said taking on the activities director role at MPS was an unexpected opportunity. Purrington is an alumnus of MHS, and came back to Marshall to teach in 2007. Since then, he has also coached the Marshall speech team and advised the MHS Honor Society.

Purrington said becoming AD wasn’t something he had planned for. But when Remme accepted the position at Lake Superior School District, he said, “I did think about it a lot.”

“I threw my hat in the ring because I felt I had the skill sets to do the job,” Purrington said.

Things have moved quickly since Purrington accepted the AD position.

“My last day of teaching in front of a class was last Friday, and I didn’t even know it,” Purrington said.

On Monday, he got a chance to run back to his classroom and share the news with students.

“It was hard for me,” he said.

But he also said it was going to be exciting to take on a new role at MPS.

This week, Purrington has been working with Remme to transition into his new job, as well as making substitute arrangements for his classes. Having coaching experience has proven helpful in understanding different aspects of the activities director’s work.

“When (Bruce) says we need to do something, I have an idea of what it is,” Purrington said.

Purrington will be jumping right in to his new position — his first day “going solo” as activities director is the day of Marshall’s homecoming pep fest.

“I’m glad I have a lot of experienced people around me,” he said.

He was also thankful for the support community members have shown him.

Purrington said he wants to continue the standard Remme has set for activities director at Marshall.

“Bruce has been so good to our coaches, and to our families, and our student athletes and artists,” Purrington said. “He has been the one who has set the tone.”