Mike Propst, who coached Reynolds to its best football season in years in 2009, has resigned to become the head coach at York High in South Carolina.
Propst, 40, spent eight seasons with the Demons and last fall led them to a 12-1 record and the Central Piedmont 4-A title, the program's first league title since 1998. Propst, who teaches social studies and weight-training classes, said he will finish the school year at Reynolds.
Reynolds won't be the only area school seeking a new football coach. Chris Deal resigned at Lexington to take over at Morganton Patton, and Chuck Henderson resigned at Ledford to take over at Asheboro.
Propst, who played football at West Lincoln High and Lenoir-Rhyne, landed his first head-coaching job at Watauga in 1998 and in three seasons there compiled an 11-22 record. He then spent two seasons as the head coach at Keenan High in Columbia, S.C. before taking the job at Reynolds in February 2002.
Propst had a 47-47 record in his eight seasons at Reynolds and took his teams to four playoff appearances.
York High is coming off two losing seasons but has moved into a new building with a new stadium. Propst will be teaching weight training only in his new job.
"The most attractive thing about it was the fact I will be more or less CEO of the football program in the entire district," Propst said. "I will make decisions for seven teams I am in charge of, and with that it means hiring coaches. I will hire 32 coaches.
"That's what a football coach wants. You can put your program in with young kids and build it all the way up."
Athletics Director Jim Spivey of Reynolds said that given last season's success, this is a good time for the school to advertise for a new coach.
"Mike had a few bumps in the road here, but he got them all straightened out," Spivey said. "I would say he's been pretty successful here."
Propst said that everyone he talked with during his interviews at York conveyed how important winning football games is.
"I am very happy at Reynolds and had a good run of eight years," Propst said. "The one thing I am real happy about is when we took over, the year before they were 1-10 and just fired their coach, and I am leaving and we were 12-1 and on very solid ground. We are one of the better programs in the city now, and that's something I feel real good about.
"You want to take it from Point A to Point B and be successful, and I feel good about leaving everything in good shape."
Deal, 37, spent six seasons as the head coach at Alexander Central before taking over at Lexington in 2007. He took his 2008 team to the second round of the 2-A playoffs and last season's team to the semifinals. Deal, who started teaching at Patton on Monday, declined to say why he left Lexington.
"The administration here is awesome, and they know how to run a great program academically and athletically," Deal said of Patton. "I will miss the kids at Lexington -- they are awesome. They work extremely hard, and they have 17 starters returning off that football team, and I hope they have great success."
Henderson became Ledford's head coach in 2003 and guided the Panthers to the playoffs in each of his seven seasons.
"There are certain jobs you can get that are more beneficial," said Donald Palmer, Ledford's AD. "Chuck will get 12 months pay at Asheboro, where he was getting 10 months pay here. He had discussed with me that some jobs were appealing to his eye."
Palmer said that Henderson, who teaches physical education, would finish the school year at Ledford. Palmer said Ledford's administration would be "patient" in its search for a new coach.
mlinker@wsjournal.com
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