Rush Propst is no stranger to controversy.
The Pell City High School football coach, famous for building a dynasty at Hoover while starring in MTV’s ‘Two-A-Days’, has been stirred up in many sticky situations throughout his career. He resigned from Hoover in 2007 in the wake of an extramarital affair scandal and was later fired from Georgia’s Colquitt County High School after accusations of abusive behavior surfaced.
Propst, who became the Pell City head coach last year, was in the news once again earlier this week. On Wednesday morning, reports surfaced claiming that he had been fired in a vote by the Pell City school board.
Later that day, it was reported that Propst had not been fired. Per AL.com, when Pell City superintendent Dr. James Martin raised the agenda item before the board, none of its five members motioned, leading to Propst being retained.
The only two board members who spoke on the matter spoke in support of Propst. Board member Norman Wilder said “[Propst’s] success has created jealousy and vindictiveness by others. False accusations and blame are now a weekly occurrence by those jealous people.”
Wilder did not elaborate on what Propst was accused of and no reasons for the potential firing were discussed at the meeting.
Propst joined The Opening Kickoff on 105.5 WNSP in Mobile on Thursday morning and did not give any further details on the controversy.
“I think those questions you have to ask [superintendent Martin],” Propst said of the reasons behind the board vote. “All I know is today we had a really good practice and a lot of good energy today. We did have some administration and board members here today and everyone left with a positive vibe and it was one of the best practices we’ve had.”
“We’ve started a new day this morning… As a football coach, here’s what you gotta understand. You can’t change what happened yesterday but you can change what happens tomorrow with your actions today.”
The mystery remains as to exactly what led the Pell City superintendent to move to get rid of Propst. Propst said that himself, the program, the players, the parents and the administration are “moving forward.”
You can hear his entire radio interview right here:
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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