Ex-Michigan assistant Greg Scruggs enters plea agreement following OWI arrest

Former Michigan defensive line coach Greg Scruggs has entered into a plea agreement following his early-morning arrest in Ann Arbor last month.

Scruggs, 33, appeared virtually before Judge Miriam A. Perry in the 15th District Court on Monday, waiving his arraignment and right to a trial and agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle while visibly impaired.

In exchange, prosecutors have agreed to dismiss the original operating while intoxicated OWI) charge against Scruggs, who resigned from his $650,000 job on March 21.

“I had a few drinks, Tito’s and tonic,” Scruggs told the court, corroborating a report that detailed his arrest during the early-morning hours of March 16. “(Then) I stopped at the stop light and nodded off.”

According to Ann Arbor police, Scruggs was spotted operating a motor vehicle at the intersection of East William Street and South Fifth Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. on March 16 when an officer observed hazards lights on and the car not moving.

Scruggs later told officers he had been drinking hours earlier at two nearby food establishments, Chop House and Pretzel Bell, and was trying to get home. His attorney, Marysville-based Gerrow “Jerry” Mason, told the court that Scruggs was temporarily living at the nearby Residence Inn.

Police say Scruggs displayed slurred speech, stumbled during a series of field-sobriety tests and refused a portable breath test at the scene, prompting his arrest. Nearly an hour later, once in police custody, a chemical test found Scruggs with a blood-alcohol content level of 0.16 and 0.17, twice the state’s legal limit.

Mason, his attorney, told the judge that his client felt remorse for his actions and enrolled in an Alcohol Anonymous class four days after the incident, sought substance abuse counseling and recently celebrated 30 days sober.

Sentencing is set for May 24. Scruggs is currently living in Wisconsin and planning to move out of state in two weeks for a new job, “contingent on the results of this resolution,” he said.

As part of his bond, Scruggs cannot be convicted of a crime nor use alcohol or drugs. He voluntarily agreed to random alcohol screening “to show his commitment to the court,” his attorney said.

Scruggs has been arrested twice before for drunk driving, including in December 2011 as a senior member of the football team at the University of Louisville. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who said Scruggs “made no excuses and has taken accountability for his actions,” hired him from the University of Wisconsin.

Eight days after the resignation, Michigan hired Lou Esposito to as the program’s next defensive line coach.