This is an opinion piece.

On Nov. 23, 2007, Rush Propst coached his final game at Hoover High School.

He officially returns to an Alabama sideline tonight – 16 years later.

Propst and his new team, the Pell City Panthers, travel to Moody to kick off the 2023 season.

Clearly, he didn’t leave Hoover and the state of Alabama the way he would have liked following a 21-17 loss at Vestavia Hills in 2007.

This is his chance to put a positive exclamation point on an outstanding – and, at times, controversial – high school coaching career.

“This means a lot to me,” he said this week. “Being back in Alabama after being gone since 2007 … I want it to work. I’m committed to Pell City because my wife is from here. This means a lot for a lot of reasons – for her, for this community. This is a super place to live. We just have to get our school system and our football program to be top notch. I think in time this can be a great place.”

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It’s clearly a rebuilding effort at Pell City.

The Panthers won one game a year ago, haven’t been to the postseason since 2017 and haven’t won a playoff game since 2012. They claim one “mythical” state title in 1951 and haven’t won a region title since 2003.

But Propst has been here before.

Ashville was 5-6 in 1988. Four years after Propst came in, the Bulldogs went 12-2.

Eufaula had three straight losing seasons before he was hired in 1993. The Tigers made the playoffs under Propst the next year and won 10 games in 1996.

Alba was 1-8 in 1996. Propst went 5-4 the next year and then 12-1 when two schools merged to form Alma Bryant.

Hoover went 4-6, 3-7, 4-6 in the years before hiring Propst. He won a state title his second year, 2000, and went on to win four more.

You get the point.

“Each place you go, you have to figure out how to win there,” he said. “You aren’t going to win here like you did at Ashville or Hoover or wherever. You have to think outside the box and think what makes our players — at this time, at this school — tick? How do we push the right buttons to get them motivated.”

Propst, who was briefly associate head coach at Coosa Christian earlier this year, was hired on March 31 to take over for Steve Mask at Pell City. This week, he said his team still has a long way to go, but he liked the fight he saw in them during jamboree games against Handley and Coosa last week.

“Are we close to being a competitive team?” I don’t think so yet,” he said. “But our kids have gone through everything I’ve ever put any other team through – Hoover, Colquitt County, Valdosta. They’ve gone through it and with less numbers. I’ve been proud of them.”

Propst said he believes the formula for being successful on the 6A level in Alabama relies on having 85 student-athletes or more in grades 10-12. He has approximately 70 as the season opens tonight.

Since Pell City didn’t have spring practice, Propst took advantage of the extra week of fall camp the AHSAA provides in that case. However, he said he thinks he might have overdone it.

“I could tell at the end of practice earlier this week that our team was gassed, beat up, sore,” he said. “We have tried to establish a new culture of all gas, no breaks, fourth-and-1 in every situation, and I think maybe we overdid it with our thin numbers. I’m hoping our energy level will be OK this week.”

The Panthers will face a tough four weeks to open the season. After tonight’s game at Moody, they have three straight home games against Leeds, Clay-Chalkville and Center Point. A year ago, Pell City lost those four games by a combined score of 208-41.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Propst said of his goals for the season. “I think we will win more than one game. Our goal is to not worry about what the record is, take each game one game at a time and focus all our energy on that game and, when the dust settles, look back and see where that gets you.

“But I can tell you this. Transition is a real thing. It’s tough.”

Whatever happens with Pell City this year with Propst at the helm, history tells us it will be intriguing.

It starts tonight.

Thought for the Week

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.