There’s a new face around the MHS scene as the 2023-2024 sports season takes off.  Assistant principal and athletic director Kory Kay left Malad for a new position at West Side High School midsummer, providing an opening to join the Dragon team.  Although Coach Kay will be highly missed, there is a lot of excitement and anticipation for the new changes at Malad High. 

Joining the MHS staff as the new assistant principal and athletic director is Dallan Rupp, coming to Malad from New Plymouth, Idaho.  Rupp has been an Idaho sports fan his whole life- as an athlete himself at Kamiah High School, then as a student at Boise State University and then as a coach in Mountain Home and New Plymouth High Schools.  His love and experience of Idaho sports is just the first of the many great ties that will help Rupp settle right in at Malad.

 After receiving his bachelor's degree in education with a focus on physical education, Rupp and his young family moved to Mountain Home where he began teaching PE and coaching football.  Rupp shared, “I have always found it fulfilling to work with kids.  I love to be a part of helping them learn and grow and develop.”  He continued to share about his path as a teacher, commenting how he had truly found his niche serving as a teacher and working with kids every day.

Over the years, Rupp expanded his opportunities to work with student athletes as he taught resistance training and began coaching.  Eventually he moved to New Plymouth where he continued to teach and took over as head football coach.  While it was fulfilling to teach and coach, he felt the pull to reach out and serve more kids.  As a teacher or as a coach, his circle of influence only included those students in his classes or on his teams and he began searching for a way to have a greater impact on more kids.  

Rupp became interested in school administration and worked to receive two masters degrees in curriculum instruction and education leadership, finishing his second program in 2020.  Since then he has been looking for the right opportunity to make his start in education administration.

Moving to southeastern Idaho wasn’t really where the Rupp family would have imagined they would have landed but sending an application to MHS just felt right.  After coming to Malad to interview, Dallan and his wife felt like it was where they were meant to be.  Accepting the position, making the move and settling into their life has, in Rupp’s words, “just fallen right into place.”

Rupp is excited for this new experience to work as an assistant principal and as athletic director at Malad High.  His previous experience as both a coach and athletic director will be a great asset to him as he directs the Dragon sports programs.  From the jump, his number one priority is helping the MHS athletes to be successful, wherever they are in their sports journey.  

To that end, he believes his responsibility is to help bring together the support the players need, saying, “I believe that it takes great support for these athletes to be successful.  Everyone needs to step up to support each other from coaches to the school staff to the parents and especially the student athletes.  We are all here for the same reason, we all want the same thing and that is to help these kids succeed.”

With new sports facilities on the horizon for Malad sports, growing student numbers and ever improving teams, it is an exciting time to be a part of Dragon sports.  Rupp has been impressed with the administration and groundwork that has been laid for the upcoming improvements and is set to step in and keep things on track.

Sports by definition is filled with challenges and Rupp is ready to face his head on.  He said, “There are issues everywhere you go when you are trying to get so many people moving together in the same direction.  In one sense or another, we are all competing against each other, whether it is coaches competing for gym time or an athlete’s time or its players competing for a position.  But we are also on the same team and have to focus on the big picture.  We have to put aside the ‘I want’ and do what is best for our schools and teams.”

With the fall season just underway and the new school year about to begin, Rupp is ready to take on his new adventure as a Malad Dragon.  From having his office set up to getting to know his parents, coaches and students to having his closet full of Dragon orange and black, he is all set and prepped to begin this new season.