Darrin Russell New WW AD

There was another change at the West Washington school board announced on Monday night that had been coming for a couple of months since Phillp Bowsman died in November. Darrin Russell was named the new athletic director. 

Russell said he was excited about the opportunity, but added that it’s again a reminder of who they lost. “I want to be excited, and I am excited. You just wish the circumstances were different. I would much rather Phillip still be here. He left some really big shoes to fill. I have things I can offer. I’ve coached a number of sports and have a lot of experience doing that. I’ve been around a lot of successful people so I think I bring a lot to the table.”

Becoming an AD was always a goal Russell aspired for. “It was always a goal. Phillip and I actually applied for the job at the same time. Phillip was already in the system and so he got the job then.  I understood then and it made total sense. He did a great job here. I had kind of given up at that point and was content to be a teacher and a coach. But it was always something that interested me.”

As part of his new position Russell resigned from his position of girls varsity basketball coach. He admitted that was a hard decision to make. “When you have put in the time that I have, I had four with Wade and then five as the head coach, and knowing what we have coming up through all the grades, there is a lot of talent there, it is difficult. But I have a son in athletics as well. Last year I got to see only three of his games. This way we can spend more time as a family and I’ll get to see him play more. I’m going to be busy, I know that. I’ll be busier than I ever was as a coach, but I won’t have to miss as much of his games.”

One hire that come to the forefront for Russell is finding his own replacement for the girls basketball team. He said it will be an important one, but they are all important. “Every coaching hire is important. I want all our sports to be successful. You can see how well some of the programs are doing with the softball team, wrestling, football, boys basketball. We’ve got a number of teams that are doing really well. We want to get all our teams doing well. We just have to find the right person."

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