Former Alabama player Nick Gentry replaces Rush Propst as Pell City High School head coach

Pell City High School has a new head football coach in Nick Gentry, the team’s former defensive coordinator who was promoted to the interim, and now has had that tag removed to become the official head coach ahead of the 2024 season.

According to AL.com, Gentry’s interim tag was ripped off following a unanimous vote from the Pell City Board of Education. Here was a snippet from their article revealing the news of Gentry’s hire.

“Former Alabama football player Nick Gentry, a member of Nick Saban’s first recruiting class at Alabama, is officially the new head football coach at Pell City. Gentry, the Panthers’ defensive coordinator in 2023, was elevated to the interim position when Rush Propst resigned earlier this spring. This week, the Pell City Board of Education voted 5-0 to remove the interim title.”

Rush Propst was a longtime high school coach in Alabama and Georgia, spending significant time coaching multiple programs in each state, including a nine-season run at Hoover (AL) High School, where Propst gained some national recognition when his team was featured on the MTV show Two-a-Days.

As for Gentry, Pell City Athletic Director Marty Smith has all the confidence in the world that the young buck is ready to step in and lead the program.

“He’s earned the position. That’s just the bottom line,” Smith said of Gentry. “Through the trials and tribulations, he’s been the person who has kept everything in line.”

Smith has already noticed Gentry running a tight ship in his time as the interim.

“The kids are working hard. The assistant coaches are working hard. I went over there on my first day as athletic director on June 3,” Smith said. “The workouts were organized and crisp. The kids were bouncing around. They were having fun but working their rear-ends off. I went back the next day. Same thing.”

A tale as old as time in sports, the interim who takes over can often be a calming force in a chaotic situation, and in many cases like Gentry, teams wind up sticking with the interim for good.

“Nick has earned this,” says his athletic director.

Gentry played his whole college football career at Alabama as part of Nick Saban’s very first four-year class. In total, he racked up 44 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks, and even recovered a single fumble during his time in Tuscaloosa.