Michigan football will need a new defensive line coach

Greg Scruggs has resigned as Michigan football defensive line coach following his arrest on Saturday for driving a motor vehicle while impaired.

The announcement was made by Sherrone Moore, the Michigan football head coach, who released this statement about the resignation of Scruggs from the Wolverines.

“I just received notice that Greg Scruggs has resigned his position, effective immediately. I am unable to comment further as this is a University matter,” Moore said.

This comes after The Michigan Insider released details on the incident which didn’t paint Scruggs in a great light. His blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Here are some of the details of his arrest.

What it means for Michigan football

It’s another unfortunate off-field incident and there have been a few over the past few years for Michigan football assistants and support staff. The athletic department took longer to perform background checks and surely knew that Scruggs had twice dealt with similar incidents in the past.

That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have been hired, but something needs to be done to prevent this sort of thing from happening, although if Scruggs simply called a cab or an Uber, Michigan football wouldn’t be in this situation.

Now, the Wolverines need to replace their D-line coach a week into spring ball. It’s not ideal and with so much turnover on the coaching staff already, it couldn’t come at a worse time, especially with the spring transfer portal window.

Moore acted decisively to replace Mike Hart with Tony Alford. He’ll need to pull a similar rabbit of out the hat here. Considering that Michigan football has some of the top D-line talent in the country, there should be plenty of interest, but in order to retain those guys, the next hire has to get it right.