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USA Academy in My Backyard! 🤔


ToraGirl

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Mods, put this anywhere. No interest personally, but curious about your views of Rush Propst's latest venture. Devaughn is an Auburn fan...

[P.S. Did you know where Jay Jacobs landed? I completely missed it...

https://floridagators.com/news/2018/6/5/general-jacobs-tabbed-executive-associate-athletic-director.aspx]

USA Academy....

'We're building a national brand': USA Academy has big plans in Coosada 

USA Academy — short for Ultimate Student Athlete — will have a football stadium this summer and open a campus and play its first football season this fall, its founder says.

The school is supposed to start enrolling students Friday and will have its first classes Jan. 20 in temporary facilities. It will use online classes with an NCAA-approved academic plan.

“We're going to spare no expense, whether male or female, to ensure that they have the best resources and the best academics to be successful,” founder Dusty DeVaughn said.

The Eagles introduced their first football coach — the previously successful and controversial Rush Propst — at a news conference Thursday at the Robert Trent Jones Trail’s Capitol Hill.

The school’s campus will be built in Coosada, DeVaughn said, with plans to open this fall with nine buildings and a football field. In five years, DeVaughn said he wants to have 33 buildings with 1,400 students..."

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/01/02/were-building-national-brand-new-usa-academy-coosada-prep-school-has-big-plans-rush-propst/2795131001/

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Looks like DeVaughn wants to win at all costs. I wouldn't want my son around Propst. I believe in forgiveness and second chances but when your dealing with kids there has to be some considerations. He reminds me of the Jon Voight's character in Varsity Blues, but worse. 

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2 hours ago, gr82be said:

Looks like DeVaughn wants to win at all costs. I wouldn't want my son around Propst. I believe in forgiveness and second chances but when your dealing with kids there has to be some considerations. He reminds me of the Jon Voight's character in Varsity Blues, but worse. 

The funny thing about the sports specific high schools is they can’t play for state championships. Any kids that go to those schools specifically go to get Trained to improve their college opportunities and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just a team person And would rather play for championships.

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AU has been a non-player at IMG so I’ll be interested to see if we stick our nose in here to get some elite players or if we just let it be a feeder school for Bama, UGA and Clemson.   
 

My guess is that recruiting USA will be beneath AU’s gentlemanly standards and we’ll pass.  

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I hate the whole idea of these “schools” and hope they go down in flames. I dont want to see HS football end up as dead as HS basketball is thanks to AAU influence. And Propst is living proof no matter how lowlife a coach can be if hes talented some school will find a way to justify hiring him.

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51 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

’ll be interested to see if we stick our nose in here to get some elite players or if we just let it be a feeder school for Bama, UGA and Clemson.

With it being an in state school gotta think we''ll always try to recruit there.

51 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

My guess is that recruiting USA will be beneath AU’s gentlemanly standards and we’ll pass.  

Recruiting IMG isn't beneath AU. Why would USA be any different?

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20 minutes ago, ellitor said:

With it being an in state school gotta think we''ll always try to recruit there.

Recruiting IMG isn't beneath AU. Why would USA be any different?

IMG would seem not to be a priority since we’ve been very ineffective at getting recruits from there.   My guess has been that our staff didn’t like their “culture”. 

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4 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

IMG would seem not to be a priority since we’ve been very ineffective at getting recruits from there.   My guess has been that our staff didn’t like their “culture”. 

Just because we haven't landed recruits from a school doesn't mean the school isn't a priority. Central Phenix City was a priortity through this class despite all the misses we had there. We are still recruiting at IMG.

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5 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Just because we haven't landed recruits from a school doesn't mean the school isn't a priority. Central Phenix City was a priortity through this class despite all the misses we had there. We are still recruiting at IMG.

That’s good to hear in spite of the lack of results.     I’m hoping we get in front of this USA/Propst thing and build relationships.   It may be like dealing with the devil but I bet talent will start to come out of there. 

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Smoke and mirrors; this thing has less than no chance for success.  

Propst is pure Updyke.  His addiction to self is scary.  Couple that with a guy who operates a "credit repair company" and what could possibly go wrong?

The USA Academy founder described himself as a “country fat boy from Slapout, Alabama.” He also ran for state representative in 2018 and lost in the Republican primary to Mike Holmes, garnering 46.6 percent of the vote.

DeVaughn also said he has owned and operated a credit repair company for the last 10 years. He said his family has deep roots in Elmore County’s farming community, and the new school is being built on a 115-acre parcel his family owns in rural Elmore County.

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18 hours ago, TigerCatcher said:

Smoke and mirrors; this thing has less than no chance for success.  

I sincerely hope you are correct.

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22 hours ago, 1auburn1 said:

IMG would seem not to be a priority since we’ve been very ineffective at getting recruits from there.   My guess has been that our staff didn’t like their “culture”. 

Asa Martin went to IMG and one of our OL commits in last years class (Osbourne) went to IMG as well. Auburn definitely goes there to as least try to get guys from IMG

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47 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

Asa Martin went to IMG and one of our OL commits in last years class (Osbourne) went to IMG as well. Auburn definitely goes there to as least try to get guys from IMG

In lue of accuracy both Asa and Osborne had gone back to their previous schools before committing to Auburn. So technically while they spent time at IMG they weren’t there when we got them.

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1 hour ago, ellitor said:

In lue of accuracy both Asa and Osborne had gone back to their previous schools before committing to Auburn. So technically while they spent time at IMG they weren’t there when we got them.

They were there when we were recruiting them though 

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3 hours ago, Sizzle said:

They were there when we were recruiting them though 

Asa Wasn't. He was already back in Alabama.

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Would be nice to know who the private investors are.

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  • 1 month later...
Quote

The Rush Propst Era at USA Academy is over before it began.

Propst – introduced as the fledgling private school’s football coach at news conference last month in Prattville – announced today that he won’t be joining the school. He never signed a contract.

“As many of you know, on January 2, 2020, I was introduced as the Head Football Coach for the new Ultimate Student Athletes Academy,” Propst’s statement reads. "At the time of the press conference, while I believed we had reached agreement on a majority of terms, we had not and have not entered into an employment contract. Due to a variety of factors outside of my control, I have informed USA Academy that I will no longer consider a position with USA Academy.

“I wish those associated with USA Academy much success.”

It’s unclear what Propst’s next coaching move will be.

The idea of creating a national-level program at USA Academy, one capable of attracting top players from across the country, appeared to hinge on Propst’s celebrity and record of on-field success.

USA Academy announced plans to build a new football stadium and athletic complex in Coosada in rural Elmore County and launch football team to play a national schedule. The school has announced a football schedule that includes Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.), St. Peter’s Prep (N.J.), St. Frances (Md.) and IMG Academy (Fla.), four teams that finished 2019 ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams by MaxPreps.

USA Academy founder Dusty DeVaughn announced grand plans for the school, but it’s unclear if stadium construction has begun. The team plans to begin playing this fall. Immediate efforts to reach DeVaughn failed.

Propst did not coach in 2019 after his a controversial departure from Colquitt County (Ga.), where he spent 12 seasons as head coach. He was fired after an investigation accused him of providing “pills” to players and being verbally abusive.

Propst first rose to national prominence as head coach at Hoover, when the suburban Birmingham school was featured on MTV’s “2-A-Days.” At Hoover, Propst compiled a 110-16 record and won five state championships, but he left Hoover amid controversy after the 2007 season and resurfaced at Colquitt County, where he led the south Georgia school to more than 100 wins wins, two state titles and several other trips to the championship game.

 

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I hope this is starting to unravel.  As a property owner who lives about 1/2 a mile from this proposed site, I am not disappointed.  From the beginning, this whole thing has been suspicious and the night Devaughn met with the towns people for a question and answer meeting really proved it.  He walked into a hornet's nest that night.  Nobody supported him except his mother.  He had no concept of what needed to be submitted to get the needed approvals from the town government.  No site plan, no engineering study and he hadn't even done a perc test of the property.  The property is zoned agricultural and he just recently submitted a rezoning request to the regional planning commission.  He's looking at  least 3 months just for that process.  The property is land locked and has a 15-20 foot wide access road and he wants to build a school and a football stadium on 115 acres.   The area does not have the infrastructure to support something like this and I think he was hoping the town and county would help.  Unbelievable.

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On 1/7/2020 at 10:18 AM, creed said:

Would be nice to know who the private investors are.

Little nickster and bowl cut kirby. 😎

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On 1/3/2020 at 8:32 AM, gr82be said:

Looks like DeVaughn wants to win at all costs. I wouldn't want my son around Propst. I believe in forgiveness and second chances but when your dealing with kids there has to be some considerations. He reminds me of the Jon Voight's character in Varsity Blues, but worse. 

Propst had some issues at Alma Bryant that never surfaced.........Would not want my children playing for him..........seems he has 9 lives for sure.

 

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On 3/1/2020 at 9:23 AM, saminbama said:

It appears USA Academy will have their practices and home games on the ASU campus according to an announcement on their website.

Is this venture even going to happen? So far all that's been made public is one mis-step after another.

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On 3/5/2020 at 5:24 PM, Mikey said:

Is this venture even going to happen? So far all that's been made public is one mis-step after another.

Time will tell.  During the meeting mentioned earlier, he stated publicly that he wasn't making money on this.  After that statement, he was asked repeatedly why he was doing this project and he refused to answer.   With all the mistakes he's made so far, I think any intelligent person can draw their own conclusions.

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