Goodman: What does Rush Propst have left to prove?

[aubiefifty 16,866]

 

al.com

 

Goodman: What does Rush Propst have left to prove?

Published: Jun. 22, 2023, 10:20 a.m.

6–8 minutes

---

Rush Propst is back in Alabama coaching high school football. Naturally, being forever fascinated by Propst’s curious nature, I attended one of his first offseason workouts.

He wore me out. Propst never stopped talking. I went to Pell City to see if Propst had mellowed out after all these years. The answer is no.

The fire burns, and maybe now hotter than ever.

Rush Propst is still very much Rush Propst, I can safely report, which is to mean that Propst, now 65 years old, continues to speak with the captivating intensity of a freight train barreling towards a cliff.

I wasn’t on the Pell City football field for more than 30 seconds before Propst began digging up his own past. The accusations of changing grades at Hoover … all the trouble in Georgia … head butting a player and being accused of giving players pills.

“I was exonerated,” Propst said.

It was dizzying, unfiltered, stream of consciousness stuff. It’s like he wanted to get it all out of the way first. Like he wanted to throw all the skeletons of his past onto the field right there in one breathless heave and bury them at the 50-yard line of a football field in St. Clair County.

GOODMAN: MLB dreams come true for Rickwood Field

GOODMAN: The moment Birmingham fell in love with its soccer club

GOODMAN: Nick Saban wants Congress to stop the cheating

Propst has won seven state titles between Alabama and Georgia. He’s a great coach, but it’s complicated. He left Hoover amid scandal and moved to Georgia. He won there, too, but was run off at Colquitt County and then Valdosta.

At Colquitt County, they treated Propst like an Alabama Al Capone. In the end, they got him for tax evasion. At Valdosta, which he calls a mistake from the beginning, it was for recruiting players.

In Pell City, where he says there’s more talent than he expected, players are already moving in. Does Propst have a quarterback? Not yet, he tells me, but someone with ties to the area is coming from California.

“I don’t know if he’s any good,” Propst said.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Is this Propst’s last stop?

Yes, he says.

“Rush Propst is going to retire in this county and Rush Propst is going to die in this county,” he said.

Propst’s wife is from Pell City. He says they’re going to live on the lake. He’s good friends with former UAB coach Bill Clark, and Clark has a house on Logan Martin Lake, too. It was Clark, Propst said, who helped him convince the right people in Pell City to give him a job.

Propst and new athletics director Xavier Robinson have grand plans for Pell City. A new, two-story athletics complex is in the works. They’re going to renovate everything. Money apparently isn’t in short supply, and an appetite for big-time success is fueling it all.

Pell City went 1-9 last season and only won two games the year before. The city is growing, though, and at a rapid pace. Robinson and Propst came in together to transform Pell City into Thompson With A Lake, and I have little doubt in their ability to do it. Propst’s staff includes former Alabama players Nick Gentry (defensive coordinator) and Courtney Upshaw (defensive line). Another Clark disciple, former UAB standout Noah Wilder, is coaching linebackers. Chase Biles, who also played at UAB, will coach the secondary and special teams.

“It’s about to get fun,” Gentry said to me outside Pell City’s old field house.

Oh, boy.

Can Propst win a state championship at Pell City? At this point, why doubt him? Winning has never been Propst’s problem. It’s the other stuff. He’s like the Casey Jones of high school football. “Trouble ahead, trouble behind,” goes the iconic song by the Grateful Dead, “and you know that notion just crossed my mind.”

I had to ask Robinson, the new athletics director, some obvious questions.

Did you have some parents who were concerned?

“No,” he said. “They haven’t come to me about it.

“Look, everyone is going to draw their own conclusions. Let them draw. The only people you need ask are these players, and they know him and they care about him. And he cares about the players. We’re in it for the best … like I said in my introductory press conference. I’m here for these athletes. Everything else is irrelevant.”

Robinson is a Pell City grad and he worked in multiple roles for Clark at UAB. When I bridged the subject of Propst’s track record of clashing with administrators, Robinson offered that “everybody has a past.”

“I’ve worked with him,” Robinson said. “He was with us at UAB for a little stint. Plus, to be with Coach Clark, and they were always in the office together and I was in there with him, so I have a relationship with him and stuff, so he’s a great offensive-minded coach and a great person. All the stuff in his past, like I said to one parent, if you haven’t sat down and talked to him one-on-one, man-to-man, then don’t pass the judgment. … Until you sit down with the man and get an understanding of what’s going on and what’s his vision, then you understand who Rush Propst is.”

Propst is one of the most interesting figures in high school sports over the last 30 years. He revolutionized high school football in Alabama, for good or ill. I always wanted to see Propst coach in college, but he could never get out of his own way. Nick Saban wanted to hire Propst, but he couldn’t. That’s all you need to know.

Propst would have been a successful college coach, I am convinced, but everyone knows the pattern at this point. He builds it all up, and then he burns it all down. His fire rages too hot. Rush Propst, always an arsonist of his own success.

I hope that’s not the case this time. I want the best for Propst, and I want to see him succeed. What does true success look like for Rush Propst? I guess that’s the singular question for high school football’s forever enigma.

I left Pell City High School mentally fatigued, but with more questions than when I arrived.

Is Pell City ready for this? Is Alabama ready for this ... again? And how long is it going to take for Propst to beat Thompson?

What does Rush Propst have left to prove? It’s this, and only this. Can he win without getting fired? That’s all I want to see. That’s everything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, hope and rum. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[JerryAU 1,681]

It's been decades and Rush is just a man that can't stay focused and keep 100% of his energy and attention on the field.  He conjures up trouble off the field and his own actions have retarded any career aspirations he may have once had.  Pell City is in the cellar and there's no doubt Rush will get improvement quickly, but what kind of trouble will he stir up this time? 

[AUfan_UAgrad 230]

What does he have left to prove.........

That he can only have 1 family, that he can coach with out being corrupt, that he can coach without cheating, that he can be a decent man, that he can be a role model for his players to look up to, that he can have morals and ethics, .......

I think there is plenty left for him to prove.

[AUfan_UAgrad 230]

Anyone know the apartment  situation in Pell City? 🤣

Edited July 5, 2023 by AUfan_UAgrad

[AUfan_UAgrad 230]

Buddy Anderson......now that is who articles should be written about.  Didn't agree with all of Buddy's ideas/rules/etc..... but want a HS coach that kids respect and will make a better person out of your son, that's your guy.  There is a reason Buddy is in the Alabama HS Hall of Fame.

Edited July 5, 2023 by AUfan_UAgrad