Rush Propst, a lightning rod for controversy and a hugely successful high school football coach, faced another possible bump in the road in his career Wednesday morning at a special called meeting of the Pell City Board of Education. An item on the agenda called for the non-renewal of Propst’s contract as head coach at Pell City High School.

After a heated discussion, no one on the board offered a motion to vote on the item, so it died and the 66-year-old Propst kept his job – to the delight of much of the packed-house crowd at the meeting, including many of his football players.

Here is a timeline of Propst’s career, with information from AL.com, several other news organizations and the Alabama High School Football Historical Society website.

1976 – Graduated from Ohatchee High School, where he played football for Ragan Clark, whose son, Bill, later was the head coach at Prattville High School, a rival of Propst when he coached at Hoover.

1977 – Student assistant coach at Ohatchee.

1980 – Married Tammy Cox, his high school sweetheart. The couple had three children.

1981 – Graduated from Jacksonville State University. He was a non-scholarship player for the Gamecocks in 1976-77.

1989-92 – Head coach at Ashville High School, where he was 25-20 with a 3-2 playoff record.

1993-96 – Head coach at Eufaula High School, where he was 24-20 with a 2-2 playoff record.

1997 – Head coach at Alba High School in Bayou LaBatre, where he was 5-4.

1998 – Head coach at Alma Bryant High School in Irvington, where he was 12-1, 2-1 in the playoffs, in the program’s first year.

1999-2007 – Head coach at Hoover High School, where he was 110-16, with five state championships and two runner-up finishes. His playoff record was 35-3 with the Bucs.

2005-06 – Became well-known nationally as the Bucs’ coach via the MTV reality series, “Two-A-Days.”

2007 – Controversy came to light when Hoover athletic director Jerry Browning resigned citing differences with then-principal Richard Bishop, who had been a teammate of Propst’s at Jax State. Browning told AL.com he had regrets about the power of the Hoover booster club and that Propst was not always following the rules.

July 28, 2007 – The Birmingham News reported on allegations about Propst’s “secret family” that came to light after Bishop was fired as principal. An August 31, 2007, on an investigation into controversies surrounding Propst and grade-changing allegations is online here.

October 30, 2007 – Propst resigns as head football coach at Hoover effective at the end of the playoffs. Hoover was forced to forfeit four games due to an ineligible player’s participation. The Bucs took a 4-5 record into the playoffs and lost 21-17 to rival Vestavia Hills in the third round of the playoffs on Nov. 23, leaving Hoover at 6-6 on the year.

2008 – Divorced Tammy Cox Propst and married Stefnie, with whom he has four children.

2008-2018 – Head coach at Colquitt County in Norman Park, Ga. He led the Packers to state championships in 2014 and 2015, with back-to-back 15-0 records. His record at Colquitt County was 119-35.

June 2016 – Georgia Professional Standards Commission announces Propst’s suspension for the 2016 season over his head-butting of a player during a 2015 playoff game. Propst won his appeal and the suspension was changed to a reprimand.

March 14, 2019 – Fired as Colquitt County head coach in a unanimous vote of the Colquitt County Board of Education following an investigation that found he had violated the Code of Ethics for Educators for “legal compliance, conduct with students, honesty and public funds and property.” A subsequent investigation changed his punishment to a 131-day suspension and he was cleared in March 2020 of all the accusations of wrongdoing and had his Georgia teaching certificate reinstated.

2019 – Volunteer assistant coach at UAB.

January 2, 2020 – Named head coach for planned private school, Ultimate Student Athlete Academy in Coosada. He resigned about a month later.

April 14, 2020 – Hired as head coach at Valdosta (Ga.) High School.

April 8, 2021 – Valdosta High School team was sanctioned for recruiting and other issues related to the coach and the football booster club. Propst was fired and the Wildcats were forced to forfeit all 12 of its 2020 games.

January 2023 – Hired as associate head football coach at Coosa Christian in Gadsden.

March 31, 2023 – Hired as head coach at Pell City High School. His first team finished 1-9, including a forfeit due to the violation of the AHSAA’s transfer rule.

April 24, 2024 – Remained head coach after heated Pell City School Board meeting, where an agenda item called for the non-renewal of his contract.