Football - Gridiron Classroom
By Nikki Sepsas
Gridiron clashes between teams coached by members of the same family have always attracted our attention. Thousands remember classic match-ups such as those that pitted Bobby Bowden of Florida State against his son, Tommy, at Clemson, or Don Shula's Miami Dolphins going up against the Cincinnati Bengals coached by Shula's son, Dave.
Other seminal moments are when a coach comes up against a former assistant, as happened often when the teams of legends like Paul "Bear" Bryant or Joe Paterno took the field against opponents coached by the former students and assistants of those titans of the game.
A similar match-up is sure to attract widespread media attention in our area this fall when Hoover's two high school football teams clash on September 15,2006. The Hoover High School Buccaneers, led by veteran head coach Rush Propst, will be meeting Spain Park's Jaguars coached by John Grass, a former Propst assistant. While the schools have met before, this will be the first meeting of the two squads with Propst and Grass as head coaches.
"There are a lot of people other than Rush Propst who I'd rather see on the opposite sideline," Grass admits. "I was an assistant under Coach Propst at Ashville High School in 1990. I had gone to high school at Ashville myself, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to go back to work in their athletic program. Rush Propst was a true inspiration and a mentor. I will always be grateful to him for helping me get started. I learned much about coaching football and about life from Rush Propst."
Grass was only a few years older than many of the players he coached at Ashville. He was fresh from receiving his degree from Jacksonville State University when he was given an assistant coach's desk at Ashville in 1990. Just four years prior to that, he had been sitting in a student's desk at the same school. He eagerly accepted the opportunity to be an assistant coach at his alma mater and learn the nuances of coaching from Propst.
A native of Ohatchee, Alabama, Propst also attended Jacksonville State where he played wide receiver for the Gamecocks.
"I was a walk-on who was able to stay on the team until I graduated in 1980," Propst laughs. "I knew I didn't have the ability to make it in the pro ranks, so I looked at coaching as means of staying connected to the game and the players."
Propst's first job after graduation was as an assistant coach at 4A Cleburne High in Heflin, Alabama. During the next 19 years, he compiled an impressive record as an assistant and as a head coach at several schools in Alabama and Georgia, competing at the 3A through 6A levels. It was at the helm of the Hoover High program, however, that Propst's star really began to shine.
When John Grass's squad suits up against Hoover's Bucs this fall, they will be playing against a school that Propst has taken to the state 6A championships six times. The Buccaneers came away with the trophy five of the six times they competed for it. Even more remarkably, four of those titles were consecutive. In addition, Propst's teams have been ranked in the top ten nationally for four out of the past six years. Pretty impressive, considering that there are some 34,000 high schools across the country trying to break into that elite group.
While Propst's legacy is established, John Grass is in the process of building his. He has already posted impressive numbers. As a head coach at 3A Ashville, Grass led the team to its first undefeated season in the school's history and their first trip to the state playoffs. Later, as head coach at Albertville High, he took over a program that had won just five games in three years and took them to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
At Moody High, he turned around a team that had won six games in six years. In just two years as head coach there, his team notched a nine and four record and made it to the third round of the state playoffs. And as an assistant under Propst at Hoover High, Grass acquired valuable experience at competing at the 6A level and helped his boss mold Hoover into the powerhouse it has become.
Grass inked his contract as head coach at Spain Park in 2005. The sparkling, five-year-old facility boasts state-of-the-art amenities reminiscent of a college campus. The school has fielded a varsity football team, however, for just the past three years. Grass will be helping to write the young school's history as he begins his tenure as head football coach.
"John Grass is a class guy and a talented coach," Propst notes. "We're both very fortunate to be part of a great school system in Hoover with quality parents and quality athletes. I've been blessed to have had the success we've had at Hoover High. It's a testament to the players, their hard work, and the goals that they keep setting for themselves.Our game with Spain Park this fall will be a real experience for our players and especially for me and John."
Grass shares his mentor's feelings.
"Coach De Lorenzo laid the foundation of a great program at Spain Park," Grass states. "Now it's up to us to build on that foundation. The most important aspect of the job for me, as I'm sure it is for Rush also, is to see these kids develop into young men. Athletics teaches young people discipline, responsibility, and helps them establish goals. Long after they've forgotten the scores of a game they won or lost, they'll hopefully remember some of what we've tried to teach them about striving to succeed and being the best they can be."
It may be a few years before the approximately 300 young men that Rush Propst and John Grass are coaching come to realize a fact that most of us understand only as we get older. The pageantry, the cheering, and the adrenaline-soaked emotions will have long faded away, but the life's lessons these young men are learning from these two quality coaches will last a lifetime.
David versus Goliath. Teacher versus pupil. The established, successful program versus the hungry newcomer. The local media pundits will be scrambling for all the metaphors in hyping the match-up when Hoover and Spain Park face off this fall.
