Longtime Alabama high school wrestling coach and hall of famer Michael Pruitt has died after complications from a surgery, Arab High School announced.

“Coach Mike Pruitt was a teacher and coach at Arab High School for 25 years,” the school wrote in a social media post. “After he retired in 2020, he moved to South Alabama and later to Mississippi. Coach Pruitt delt with ongoing heart issues and recently had triple bypass surgery. Unfortunately, Coach Pruitt experienced complications from the procedure and passed away today.

“Please keep Coach Pruitt’s family in your thoughts and prayers.”

The same message was shared to the Alabama Chapter Of The National Wrestling Hall Of Fame Facebook group.

“It is with overwhelming sadness that we send our heartfelt condolences to the family of Hall of Fame Class of 2019 member, Michael Pruitt,” the post read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and the countless athletes who were positively influenced by Michael ove his illustrious coaching career.”

A longtime coach in the state of Alabama, Pruitt spent most of his career at Arab High School. He helped lead the team to seven state championships (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018) and two duals titles (2017 and 2018), also finishing as the state runner-up multiple times.

During his time as a coach, his programs had 30 individual state champions, 125 state placers and 214 state qualifiers, according to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Along with earning Alabama state wrestling coach of the year honors from NFHS in 2013 and 2014, Pruitt was named to the Class of 2019 National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame-Alabama Chapter; he has over 900 wins as a head coach.

A native of Etowah County, he attended Southside High and wrestled under coach Jimmy Blanton, winning three team state championships; he would serve as an assistant as Southside before taking the head job at Arab.