PRATTVILLE — A new prep school coming to Elmore County has grand plans for its football and for its future.

USA Academy — short for Ultimate Student Athlete — will have a football stadium this summer and open a campus and play its first football season this fall, its founder says.

The school is supposed to start enrolling students Friday and will have its first classes Jan. 20 in temporary facilities. It will use online classes with an NCAA-approved academic plan.

“We're going to spare no expense, whether male or female, to ensure that they have the best resources and the best academics to be successful,” founder Dusty DeVaughn said.

The Eagles introduced their first football coach — the previously successful and controversial Rush Propst — at a news conference Thursday at the Robert Trent Jones Trail’s Capitol Hill.

“We're building a national brand,” Propst said. "We don't want to be the best private school in just Alabama. I wouldn't have done it for that.

“We want to play the best schools in the country and give our kids the opportunity to be successful.”

The school’s campus will be built in Coosada, DeVaughn said, with plans to open this fall with nine buildings and a football field. In five years, DeVaughn said he wants to have 33 buildings with 1,400 students.

The school’s break-even point is 300 students, he said. DeVaughn is currently working out of a temporary office in Holtville, he said.

This fall, USA Academy would “like” to have 65-75 “varsity-level” football players, Propst said.

“We’re probably six months behind in developing a top-notch football program,” Propst said. “We need to recruit some really good football players.”

The school plans to start its football, baseball, softball, soccer and golf teams in its first year.

Due to needing to build a gymnasium, basketball and volleyball, along with tennis, will start in Year 2. Swimming and diving will be Year 3.

The football team already has games scheduled, including one with a Canadian team early this season that DeVaughn said is already drawing major attention.

USA Academy will also play St. John’s (D.C.) and IMG (Fla.).

“Let’s just say that everyone wants to take a shot at Rush Propst,” DeVaughn said with Propst beside him. “Putting together a schedule is not going to be difficult.”

Propst was a multi-time state championship coach at Colquitt County (Ga.) before being fired after the 2018 season. The allegations against him, including that he improperly provided painkillers to players, are “bogus,” he said in an eight-minute response.

Before that, he won five state championships over nine years at Hoover, including most famously when the Bucs were featured on MTV’s Two-A-Days.

Propst was a volunteer assistant at UAB during the 2019 season before USA Academy hired him.

“If I didn't believe in this, I wouldn't be standing up here talking to you today,” Propst said. “I'm willing to take a risk, and you have to take risks in life.

“It's out-of-the-box thinking, and I believe in that.”

They said they looked forward to working with Montgomery-area schools and planned to play games on Thursday and Saturday to not force fans to choose.

USA Academy will not be a member of the Alabama High School Athletic Association and would not be able to schedule AHSAA schools.

“We’re not here to overshadow schools, period,” Propst said. “We want to work with schools in a partnership, if they’re willing to do that.”

But Montgomery-area coaches seemed wary of USA Academy when contacted Thursday afternoon. Wetumpka’s Tim Perry, Park Crossing’s C.J. Harris and Autauga Academy’s Bobby Carr declined comment.

“If you’re a player, and your high school already provides these opportunities, and you can get a quality education, what is the allure in going,” Prattville’s Caleb Ross said.

“What does this provide that your school doesn’t already?”

USA Academy will use Edgenuity — which is used by many local schools for online classes — to provide an NCAA-approved academic curriculum, DeVaughn said.

USA Academy’s tuition will be “$13,750 tops,” he said, which he compared to IMG’s $79,600.

DeVaughn said 386 players from 31 states had made contact with him and Propst as of Thursday morning.

The school will cost $13 million-$14 million, DeVaughn said, but that does not include dorms that were not part of the initial plans.

DeVaughn did not reveal any of the school's corporate sponsors, but said there were upcoming announcements "that will knock your socks off." He also didn't reveal any investors, saying that "private investors are private for a reason."

“We are set and ready,” DeVaughn said. “I know everybody thinks that crazy because they hadn’t heard anything about this until like three days ago, but we’ve laid the pathway to be ready for this when we were ready.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter A. Stacy Long at slong1@gannett.com