Rush Propst is as healthy as he has been in 20 years.

The former Hoover coach was introduced earlier this week as the associate head coach and athletic director at Coosa Christian in Gadsden.

At 64, he says he’s as healthy as he was at 42. He is cancer free after beating Stage 4 throat cancer in 2011. He’s overcome a bout of COVID compounded by pneumonia and breathing issues. He stands at 182 pounds.

Now, he is ready to take on the next chapter of high school football coaching career in Coosa Christian. Part of that task will be to restore his name and image.

“There are a lot of reasons for that,” Propst told me about why he is so polarizing Thursday during an appearance on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5. “I haven’t been able to get out of my own way some. I’ve had some self-inflicted controversy on my part.”

His part, of course, started with the revelation of a secret double life with two families while he coached the Hoover Bucs to five state championships.

Propst became a household name, thanks to his time at Hoover. MTV’s “Two-A-Days,” a reality show about the members of the school’s highly rated Buccaneers football team during the season, while they balanced athletics with school and relationships, thrust him in the limelight back in 2006.

He went 110-16 in nine years as head coach at Hoover.

Propst 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).

Propst reached 300 career wins at Valdosta. However, the Wildcats were forced to forfeit seven victories following a Georgia High School Association investigation, dropping him back to 295 officially.

He also did not coach in high school in 2019 after his controversial departure from Colquitt County. He was fired after an investigation accused him of providing “pills” to players and being verbally abusive. However, his Georgia teaching certificate was later re-instated and Propst told AL.com then he felt vindicated.

“I think that’s the big thing about taking this job,” Propst said Thursday. “There’s been some clouds around my name, and I want to clear the clouds. I think Coosa is the best way to help me do that.”

He re-visited the reality TV scene in 2021 – as coach at Valdosta – when Netflix came calling with “Titletown,” a similar reality show based on that high school program.

Propst was accused by a former Valdosta booster club president of arranging financing for moving expenses and housing for a number of players who transferred to the school for the 2020 season, as well as taking funds meant to pay for stadium advertising for personal use. In addition to the sanctions against Valdosta’s program, all four players in question have been declared ineligible to play for any Georgia High School Association member school in 2021.

“TV does a lot,” Propst said. “I think that has as much to do with it as anything. Controversy plus the TV exposure that I’ve received has driven that thing. I’m ready to back away from that, try to be non-controversial as best I can.”

He credits Coosa for letting him try to “clear these clouds and think a little differently of me.”

Check out the full interview here.

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.