Rush Propst talks resignation from Pell City: ‘I was tired of fighting’

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May 6, 2024

Less than two weeks after controversial former Hoover football coach Rush Propst found his name in the news again, he has now resigned as the head coach of Pell City football.

On April 24, Propst was initially reported to have been fired, but things changed course after a specially called board meeting saw no one move to dismiss following a motion from the superintendent.

At the time, Propst declined to get into specifics and simply offered a sentiment of moving forward and being focused on the season ahead.

But now over the weekend, Propst announced his resignation as the Panthers’ head coach and the school promoted former Alabama football player Nick Gentry as his replacement under Propst’s recommendation.

https://twitter.com/PropstRush/status/1786536212129329189

Head Football Coach @nickbgentry

Win The Day 🥇#UATW 🌏 #ATM pic.twitter.com/81mfYkmsgi

— Pell City Football (@PellCityFTBL) May 4, 2024

Propst, while remaining somewhat cryptic, explained his reasoning for the resignation during a Monday morning appearance on The Opening Kickoff on 105.5 WNSP in Mobile.

“Behind the scenes it’s never as it appears. There’s things that happen that you don’t see in the public eye that it was just time for to step aside because I felt like too much attention was on me and I became a distraction. If the kids are constantly rallying around me and fighting small battles…I just got tired of fighting,” Propst said.

“I just didn’t feel good about that…it became divisive and it just felt like any minute going forward, I just think when a superintendent gets defeated like that it doesn’t mean it completely goes away. Every time you turn around there’s always something different I just felt at this time I’m not the right guy to lead the program.”

Propst was referencing the fact that it appeared only the superintendent at Pell City was ready to get rid of him, but obviously after the vote two weeks ago something changed since then.

Exactly what that is is not known and Propst may very likely never divulge it.

Despite resigning from Pell City, Propst says he is not necessarily finished coaching and will look for another job eventually.

“Maybe I can find a place that I can step into that sort of has the same vision as I have. I think my vision has been pretty good. I know I’ve had a lot of controversy in my career, and I push. When you hire me I’m gonna be honest if I see something that’s not right, I’m not too diplomatic. I believe in pushing as hard as I can to get things right and sometimes that may rub people the wrong way,” he said.

You can hear Propst’s interview from Monday morning in full right here: