Pell City High School hopes to announce its new football coach Friday morning.

Will it be former Hoover coach Rush Propst?

That remains to be seen.

Pell City superintendent James Martin told AL.com this afternoon that no candidate had been approved yet as the school searches for a replacement for Hall of Fame coach Steve Mask.

He did say, however, there would be a called board meeting at 8 a.m. Friday. If a coach is approved, an official announcement is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Pell City Center for Education and Performing Arts.

Propst, who was named associate head coach at Coosa Christian in January after two years out of coaching, told AL.com Thursday that no deal had been reached. Coosa head coach Mark O’Bryant told the Gadsden Times this morning that Propst is still in negotiations with Pell City.

Prior to being hired at Coosa, Propst last coached in Alabama in 2007 when he led Hoover to a 6-6 record. He won five Class 6A titles with the Bucs, including four in a row from 2002-2005. He went 110-16 in nine years as head coach at Hoover.

He won a pair of state titles in 11 years as head coach at Colquitt County, Ga., racking up 119 more victories. He’s also been head coach at Ashville (1989-1992), Eufaula (1993-1996), Alba/Alma Bryant (1997-1998) and Valdosta, Ga. (2020).

He has been out of coaching the last two years, watching his son play football at Piedmont. If hired at Pell City, Propst will try to turn around a Panthers team that went 1-9 a year ago, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017 and hasn’t won more than six games in a season since 2012. (The Panthers went 7-5 that year).

What type of coach will it take to turn the program around?

“I think it’s going to take someone who understands how to build a program, someone who understands our competition and the culture of our community,” Martin said. “We are one of the few places that can have a 1-9 football team but our stands are full. Our community supports our kids, and we are very blessed to have that.

“I feel the type of coach we need is one who will take that type of support and do what needs to be done where our kids can experience some success. The program has been down for a while, and we need someone who has been there and done that and understands what needs to happen to get the job done.”

The River 94.1 FM in Pell City reported on social media Thursday afternoon that Pell City would indeed introduce Propst at 10 a.m.