This is an opinion piece.

Rush Propst is back.

Well technically he was already back.

Now he just has a bigger stage.

Propst was approved and introduced Friday as the new head football coach at Pell City High. Since January, he had been working as the associate head coach and athletic director at Coosa Christian in Gadsden. Coosa was his first high school coaching job in the state of Alabama since he left Hoover in 2007.

It’s been well-chronicled that controversy has surrounded the polarizing Propst throughout the last two decades. It also has been well-chronicled that success has followed him at nearly every stop.

How did Friday’s announcement go over in the tight-knit community of Pell City?

“You have some negativity, but I’ve heard far more positives about the hire from our community,” Pell City superintendent James Martin said. “I think a lot of our people are very excited to have coach Propst. There is a sense of optimism, and that is something I’m very excited to see in our community and our school system. We now have to go to work and do what needs to be done to be successful.”

Propst won five state titles during a six-year span at Hoover and added two more at Colquitt County, Ga. Can he add a few more at Pell City, a program that has struggled mightily in recent years against formidable Class 6A competition?

“People ask me at every stop. ‘How many games are you going to win?’” Propst said Friday. “I don’t give them a number. There is only one goal in football every time you step on the field, and that is to be a state champion. Period. And that’s all you will hear me talk about. When will that happen? I don’t know. I can’t tell you.”

Pell City claims one state championship. It was a “mythical” championship in 1951. Since the playoffs began, the Panthers don’t have a state title. They have won eight region titles, but the last one of those came in 2003. They are coming off a 1-9 season in 2022 under a Hall of Fame coach, Steve Mask.

“There is no timeframe on winning a state title,” Propst said. “It’s hard. There are things you have to do to achieve that. It takes patience, and it takes time. People ask how we’ve won in the past. I tell them it is because we’ve outworked people. A seventh-grade player is just as important to me as a senior in my opinion. You have to develop an edge throughout your school.

“There won’t be a quick fix, but I can promise you this – everywhere we’ve been we’ve turned it around.”

Can it be done at Pell City?

As a good friend always tells me, “time will tell.”

If anyone can do it, it probably is Propst, who will no doubt be rejuvenated and ready to win after several years on the sidelines. But Class 6A, Region 6 opponents Clay-Chalkville, Pinson Valley, Oxford, Center Point and others will have a lot to say about it as well.

Whatever happens, it will be intriguing to watch. That is one thing we can all agree on.

Coker on the move?

The Jackson County Sentinel reported today that ultra-successful Plainview basketball coach Robi Coker has informed his team he plans to resign. He is expected to be named the new head coach at Fort Payne next week.

Coker has built a small school dynasty at Plainview, winning four Class 3A state titles in the past four years. The Bears held off Midfield 40-37 in the 2023 championship game earlier this month. Plainview also won state titles in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

Coker is not only one of the state’s best boys basketball coaches, he has been a great ambassador for the sport on a high school level in this state as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do at Fort Payne should that indeed be where he winds up.

Big day in East Brewton

Owen Nelson, a 4-year-old born with a congenital heart defect, is scheduled to throw out the first pitch today when the W.S. Neal baseball team takes on Cottage Hill around 6:30 p.m.

Owen had his first open heart surgery at about three months old and another surgery on his skull at about nine months to relieve pressure from his brain. He had another open heart surgery last month.

The day has been designated Owen “The Warrior” Nelson Day.

Ouch!

Pleasant Valleys John Garrett Bryant set an AHSAA record recently when he was hit by a pitch in six consecutive at-bats, according to this week’s AHSAA spotlight.

He was hit four times in a 27-4 win over Sand Rock, tying the single-game record. He was then hit two more times in the next game, an 8-4 win over Faith Christian.

He scored five of the six times he reached base.

Lighting it up on the track

Reigning Mr. Football Ryan Williams of Saraland continues to have a blazing spring on the track.

The Alabama sophomore commit ran the state’s best time in three events at the Foley Lions Invitational – the 100 meters (10.49 seconds), the 200 meters (21.28 seconds) and the 400 meters (48.19 seconds).

He also finished second in the high jump (6-feet, 4 inches).

Fellow Saraland student Morgan Davis, a senior who ha signed with Kentucky, also had a huge meet in Foley. She ran the fastest times of the outdoor season in the 100 meters (11.82) and 200 meters (23.99). She also recorded a high jump of 5 feet, 10 inches and a long jump of 19 feet, 10 inches.

Thought for the week

“It doesn’t matter how far you’ve wandered from the Lord. It’s one step back.”

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.