Valdosta High coach on administrative leave amid money probe

Valdosta City Schools placed Valdosta High football coach Rush Propst on administrative leave this week, the Valdosta Times reported Thursday.

The school district confirmed last week that it was investigating Propst, one of the nation’s more successful and controversial high school coaches, following accusations by a former football booster-club director that Propst sought money to help two transfer athletes pay living expenses.

Michael “Nub” Nelson, the former Valdosta TD Club director who made the allegations, secretly taped a conversation he had last year with Propst, who could be heard claiming that Alabama and Georgia routinely paid football players thousands of dollars to play for those college programs. An audiotape was released on social media.

Nelson stated in a deposition last month that Propst last year asked for $15,000 in what Propst called “funny money’’ to be kept in his desk drawer, presumably to help secure players transferring to Valdosta.

Propst, best known for his time at Hoover High in Alabama and Colquitt County in Moultrie, became Valdosta’s coach last spring, and he led the Wildcats to a Class 6A semifinal finish.

Propst’s overall record in 31 seasons as a head coach is 302101 with seven state titles, two at Colquitt County in Moultrie.

Josey held Fannin County scoreless for an eight-minute stretch in the second half and rallied from a 14-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Rebels 47-42 in the Class 2A girls basketball championship game Thursday at the Macon Coliseum.

Josey (20-6), the only unranked girls team to reach the finals, won its first state title since 1998. Sixth-ranked Fannin County (23-5) fell short of its first championship since 1999.

Ky’shonnabrowngavejosey its first lead since the first quarter when her layup put the Eagles up 43-42 with 43 seconds remaining in the game, and Josey went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 20 seconds to secure the victory. The Eagles had made only 10 of 21 free-throw attempts until the closing seconds.

“I had to tell myself about three or four times in the second half that we’ve been here before, we’ve done this before, don’t get down, don’t let the girls see you get down, and don’t allow them to get down,” Josey coach Jawan Bailey said. “And that’s what I did. I just tried to keep motivating them . ... We’ve been playing from behind the last three rounds of the playoffs, so we were never in a terrible spot where we didn’t believe we could finish it off.”

Fannin County, leading by four points at halftime, scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and led 33-19 after a jumper by Becca Ledford with 4:59 left in the period. The Rebels’ lead was still 12 points when a 3-pointer by Natalie Thomas made the score 38-26 three minutes later, but the Rebels would not score again until a layup by Courtney Davis with 1:52 left in the game.

By that time, Josey had pulled even. Davis’ layup and two free throws by Ledford 30 seconds later restored Fannin County’s lead to four points, but the Rebels didn’t score again.

Junior Aqoyas Cody was the key to the Eagles’ comeback. She scored 11 of her gamehigh 15 points in the second half, including six straight. Her layup with 2:21 remaining tied the score at 38-38. Cody also finished with 10 rebounds. Brown added 11 points for the Eagles.

“We weren’t hitting outside shots in the first half,” Bailey said. “Even though they were playing a zone, we had to make sure we had chances around the paint. Aqoyas Cody did a really amazing job being physical in the paint. She really got it going for us as far as scoring the ball in the second half.”

Ledford, co-player of the year in Region 7, was Fannin’s only double-figures scorer, with 14 points. She had seven rebounds and three assists. Abby Ledford and Davis added nine points each, and Reagan York had 10 rebounds.

Thomas Davis and Greg Olsen, two beloved NFL players who developed into iconic figures in the Charlotte community, officially retired together Thursday as members of the Panthers.

Davis and Olsen signed one-day contracts with Carolina and were honored jointly during a 90-minute virtual ceremony at Bank of America Stadium that was broadcast live on the team website.

Davis, a University of Georgia product, spent 14 of his 16 NFL seasons with the Panthers and is the team leader in tackles with 1,258. Olsen spent nine of his 14 seasons in Carolina, finishing with 742 receptions for 8,683 yards, both fifth in NFL history among tight ends.

But their success on the field was superseded by their reputation for giving back to the Charlotte community.

Davis was the Walter Payton Man of the Year award recipient in 2014, while Olsen was selected as a finalist for the award in 2017 and 2018. Davis started the Defending Dreams Foundation which strives to encourage students to develop the essential life and social skills. Olsen created the HEARTEST Yard Fund foundation along with Atrium Health to help other families after his son, T.J., was diagnosed early in his life with a congenital heart condition.