According to reports, defensive line coach Greg Scruggs is quitting.
In Madison, the off-season coaching wheel is still churning.
Greg Scruggs, the defensive line coach, is allegedly leaving the University of Wisconsin to take the same position at Michigan, the team that has won the Big Ten Conference and the College Football Playoffs the last three seasons. Sam Webb of 247Sports broke the story first, and other Michigan media sites corroborated it. Prodigious defensive line coach Mike Elston was among the few Michigan coaches that left with the Wolverines when head coach Jim Harbaugh was traded to the Los Angeles Chargers last month. Elston contributed to strengthening Michigan’s front line, which was already one of the most potent and disruptive in the nation.
Sherrone Moore, the coach of New Michigan, was a graduate assistant at Louisville during Scruggs’ Cardinals career.
Luke Fickell, the coach of the Badgers, will have to replace Scruggs for the fourth time this summer. Former offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. was moved within the school, former safeties coach Colin Hitschler chose to take a similar position at Alabama, and former receivers coach Mike Brown accepted a similar position at Notre Dame.
Scruggs, a native of Cincinnati, started his coaching career under Fickell while playing collegiate football at Cincinnati. He began working with the UC program in 2018 as the director of player development, then in 2020, he was brought on as the defensive line coach. In 2021, he oversaw the D-line for the Bearcats’ perfect regular season that culminated in a College Football Playoff berth.
The 33-year-old Scruggs participated in five NFL seasons and was a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. He was the New York Jets’ assistant defensive line coach for the 2022 campaign. At Wisconsin, he was paid $400,000, but on April 1st, that amount would increase to $425,000.
A former football coach from Wisconsin joins the NFL staff
Outside of defensive end James Thompson Jr.’s excellent season, Wisconsin’s defensive line was a little underwhelming in 2023; nonetheless, Scruggs shown outstanding recruiting skills while at Wisconsin. Dillan Johnson and Ernest Willor, two four-star D-line recruits, were mostly recruited by him. In December, the first day of the early signing period, Willor was a big victory for the Badgers.