Rush Propst was in his element.

Surrounded by fresh-faced teenage football players, the veteran coach preached the gospel of Propst to an attentive flock of Pell City players.

Back in the state after a journey that began in 1989 in Ashville and wound through both Alabama and Georgia, Propst is home.

“I love it,” Propst said during Pell City’s competition at the Hustle Up 7on7 competition at the Hoover Met Complex, a stone’s throw from the program he restored to dominance in the early 2000s. “I could sit here and talk to you about it for an hour, but at the end of the day, being back in Alabama gives me a lot of satisfaction. I’m glad to be back, glad to finish my career here.”

Propst’s story is well known. After his first head coaching position in Ashville, Propst coached at Eufaula and Alma Bryant before accepting the Hoover job in 1999. He restored the program that struggled after the 1994 death of legendary Bucs coach Bob Finley.

Hoover posted three straight losing seasons before Propst built a dominating program, winning five state championships in nine seasons and shining a national spotlight on the program with the 2006 MTV reality show Two-A-Days.

The Propst story is not without controversy. There was the messy exit from Hoover after an extra-marital affair became public and several allegations during his coaching stops at Georgia’s Colquitt County and Valdosta. He admits mistakes, but quickly points out that he was cleared of any wrongdoing in Georgia.

Love or hate his means and methods, Propst wins.

In addition to the five state championships in Hoover, he guided Colquitt County to consecutive undefeated seasons and titles in 2014 and 2015.

The Alabama Football Historical Society website lists Propst’s record as 295-108 in 32 years of coaching.

Pell City could be one of his stiffest challenges. The Panthers have five straight losing seasons, winning just 13 games during the period. There has been one playoff win in the past 19 seasons and only 15 in school history.

“It’s slow, but I mean, the kids are starting to buy in,” Propst said. “We have them doing things they haven’t done in over 10 years, so they’ve finally got some structure and some organization. But again, now we had no spring, we had no offseason and this is our 20th day of the summer. We had an (organized team activity) yesterday at Helena so this is our second day of competition ever as a group.

“But I’m proud. Our efforts are good. There’s ups and downs anytime you build a program and this is my seventh one that I’ve been involved in building a program.”

Propst’s youngest son, John David, is a junior wide receiver on the team. His wife is from Pell City.

“Any time you can come back to your roots and finish your career, I know it’s been controversial, but I think if these next seven years if we can build this thing right and finish on a high note and I can retire right there in Pell City,” Propst said. “I’ll be satisfied for what I’ve done in my career.”