Rush Propst is adamant that this time he is thinking differently.
This week, the contentious coach told AL.com that he would be taking over as Coosa Christian’s interim coach.
In an interview with me on Friday’s episode of The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile, Alabama, Propst stated that this experience has helped me reconnect with my football origins.
He said, “I’m lining fields.” Like I did in the early 1980s, we’re cleaning up and taping ankles. Sort of driving the bus. Returning to the fundamentals of football is, I believe, what I have truly appreciated about it.
But he always makes headlines wherever he goes.
This will be Propst’s first head coaching position since his one and only season at Pell City, where his team finished 1-9 in 2023 and lost to Center Point in forfeiture due to a transfer rule violation.
It was the most recent in a long sequence of striking headlines.
He said, “I’ve made mistakes.” I have undoubtedly made mistakes. There have been certain instances where it has been exaggerated, particularly in recent times. I’ve erred. I won’t tell lies about it. I have lost employment as a result of my blunders.
The Lord opens doors, according to what the Bible says. I think there’s a reason he opened it. I firmly think so. This is more than just football and me coaching, in my opinion. This pull is spiritual. The Lord is attempting to communicate with me. For me, he has a plan.
Less than two weeks after surviving an attempt to fire him at a special Board of Education meeting, Propst resigned as Pell City’s coach on May 3, 2024.
Propst previously coached in Alabama in 2007, where he guided Hoover to a 6-6 record, before being hired at Coosa. With the Bucs, he won five crowns in Class 6A, which was the biggest classification at the time. From 2002 to 2005, he won four straight. During his nine years as head coach at Hoover, he had a 110-16 record.
That’s when it was made public.While coaching the Bucs to five state titles, Propst, 67, led a covert double life with two families.
Headlines were still produced between Hoover and Pell City.
After overcoming Stage 4 throat cancer in 2011, he is cancer-free. He has recovered from a COVID-19 episode that was exacerbated by pneumonia and respiratory problems.
He did not coach in high school in 2019 following his contentious exit from Colquitt County.Following an investigation, he was sacked on charges of verbally abusing players and giving them medications. Propst told AL.com that he felt vindicated when his Georgia teaching certificate was eventually reinstated.
When Netflix came calling with Titletown, a similar reality show centered on that high school program, in 2021, he returned to the reality TV scene following MTV’s Two-A-Days while he was coach at Valdosta.
A former president of the Valdosta booster club accused Propst of diverting money intended to pay for stadium advertising for personal use and of arranging for housing and moving costs for several players who transferred to the school for the 2020 season. The four athletes in question have been ruled ineligible to play for any Georgia High School Association member school in 2021, in addition to the punishments imposed on Valdosta’s program.
So why does Propst keep getting opportunities?
“Wherever I’ve been, most people know that I can win,” the coach remarked. That’s the solution. I have never visited a place where I haven’t raised the football program to a higher level than they had. I’m sorry to put it that way.
Nevertheless, his history follows him everywhere he goes. To be honest, he is not bothered by it.
He told them, “I don’t care about the keyboard warriors who sit behind the keyboard and want to comment but don’t know what Rush Propst is about.” or what I really am and what my family is about. I’m not bothered by them. Once more, I sincerely hope and pray that I can represent Coosa in a Christian way, that they have a successful season and qualify for the playoffs, and that these youngsters have a good time.
The Alabama Media Group employs Mark Heim as a reporter. You may follow him at @Mark_Heim on Twitter. He may be heard on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM’s The Opening Kickoff.every day from 6 to 9 a.m. on a mobile device using the free Sound of Mobile app.
