Wayne Grandy
MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County Board of Education has approved the hiring of one of the most successful and well-known football coaches in country to lead its football program.
Rush Propst, who won 115 games and five state championships over the last nine years at Hoover High School in Hoover, Ala., was approved on a 4-2 vote by the school board at a special called meeting Wednesday morning.
Propst has been a coach for 27 years and a head coach for 19 seasons, posting an overall record of 183-55. He was 115-11 at Hoover High.
The 50-year-old Propst will make $95,000 as the school’s head coach and director of football operations. School Superintendent Leonard McCoy said the amount was $1,512 more than what previous coach Tim Cokely made.
Propst, who was a member of the 61-student Class of 1976 at Ohatchee High in Alabama, says he is just a country boy looking forward to living and coaching in Colquitt County.
“I know the tradition and pride this community has,” he said. “I like the idea of coming into an environment like this that has a rich, rich tradition. I like that it’s one school, one team, one mission.
“Obviously, winning games is important. And we are going to do it the right way.”
In addition to the fame that has come with his success in the highest level of football competition in Alabama, Propst achieved notoriety as one of the focal points of the MTV reality series “Two-A-Days,” which aired in 2005 and 2006 and chronicled his Hoover football teams.
Propst resigned as the Bucs head coach in October amid reports of grade-tampering, misappropriation of funds and marital infidelity. He admitted to having a child as a result of a relationship outside his marriage, but the grade-tampering and questions about the use of funds from the television deal were never proved.
Although admitting “I made mistakes,” he publicly denied “wrongdoing inside the walls of Hoover High School.”
When the school board accepted his resignation, it allowed him to finish out the season.
And Colquitt County administrators and the school board are banking that he has put that part of his life behind him.
School Superintendent Leonard McCoy said an extensive check of Propst’s background was performed, including talking to school officials, parents and students in Hoover. And he said the investigation went “far beyond just a matter of Googling.”
“It’s been critical that we select the best candidate to coach the youngsters of Colquitt County,” McCoy said. “I feel he will operate the program in an excellent manner with a high degree of integrity.
“He assures us he is a man of integrity and we have assured him that is our expectation.”
During his check, McCoy found “a lot of positives about how he works with children.” McCoy also said he talked to the superintendent of schools in Hoover, who said he believed Propst “deserves a another chance to use his God-given talents.”
Board member Debra Hampton said she spent “a lot of time with Coach Propst, and I feel he’s the man who can lead our children. He’s getting a second chance and we stand in support of him.”
Board member Tim Henry, who said he thought Propst would be a good fit for the Colquitt County football team, added that the decision to hire him “was not taken lightly.”
“We all agonized over it,” Henry said. “And we had to vote our heart.
“We’re giving him a second chance,” he said.
Taylor said he voted against the hiring because “I just don’t think it’s a good fit at this time.”
But, Taylor added, “I think he’s a great football coach.”
Colquitt County Athletic Director Darius Dawson said he thinks Propst will bring stability to a football program that has not made the playoffs the last two seasons and posted a 14-18 record over the last three years.
“He’ll require discipline of the kids and they need that,” Dawson said. “He’s going to ask the kids to step up to the plate and be responsible.”
Propst said he hopes to avoid the limelight in Colquitt County, become a part of the high school faculty and “blend in.”
“I’m just a country boy,” he said. “I’m going to go quail hunting, I’m going to go deer hunting. I’ll be very approachable. I don’t want to be treated differently.”
But if the success he had in Hoover translates to Moultrie, he will have a somewhat higher profile.
Propst said when he took over the Hoover program, it had gone 3-7, 3-7 and 4-6 the three previous years.
“In 1999, we had 33 people at our first meeting,” he said.
In 2000, the Bucs won the first of their five state championships.
By 2005, MTV had come to Hoover to tape “Two-A-Days.” In it, Propst was portrayed an intense, driven coach who often used what many consider “salty” language.
He admits “there are some things I’d handle differently,” but added that “I’m a passionate guy. That’s my profession. But I’m going to do a better job of being a role model.”
He did say the MTV show did have the benefit of promoting high school football.
Propst, who will be in charge of the entire football program from middle school to varsity, said he had about 200 players in grades 9 through 12 at Hoover High.
“I believe in strength in numbers,” he said. “It becomes a numbers game. We weren’t always blessed with a lot of great players. But we had a lot of players who could play.”
At Hoover, Propst used a 4-3 defense and offensively he used a spread attack.
“We’ll spread it out and throw it and be exciting,” he said.
Propst said he had not begun to formulate a staff but expected to meet with members of the current Colquitt County staff soon.
He will be in Moultrie today but will return to Hoover on Friday to attend a banquet. His first official day as the Colquitt County head coach is Monday.
The Packers, who were 2-8 last season, will open their 2008 schedule on Aug. 29 at home against Randolph-Clay.
