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Edward Aschoff, ESPN Staff Writer 13y

South Carolina's G.A. Mangus arrested

College Football, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, Florida Gators, South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with nuisance conduct.

The State (S.C.) newspaper first reported the story.

According to a police report, two officers saw Mangus "facing Main St. urinating on the street curb and roadway," at 1:31 a.m. ET Tuesday in Greenville. The report stated that another officer was called to the scene and when he approached Mangus, the quarterbacks coach was "unsteady on his feet and he had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his person."

The report also stated that when the 42-year-old Mangus was questioned by the officer, Mangus' speech was slurred and he failed to provide the officer with "straight answers." Mangus was issued a ticket for $470, handcuffed and taken to the Greenville County Detention Center.

"Last night I acted irresponsibly and I deeply regret my actions," Mangus said in a statement. "I take full responsibility. I would like to publicly apologize to Coach Spurrier, (athletic director) Eric Hyman, the entire team and everyone associated with the University of South Carolina."

In a statement through the university, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said Mangus has been suspended indefinitely.

"G.A. has been suspended from all coaching activities until this matter is resolved," Spurrier said. "We are disappointed in his actions and will handle it accordingly."

Mangus was in Greenville for the annual South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association convention that is being held there this week. Mangus, who is in his third year at South Carolina, is seen as a mentor for troubled quarterback Stephen Garcia and was instrumental in Garcia's on-field development last season.

Garcia was suspended from the team this spring after his own alcohol-related incident but returned to working out with the team in June. During SEC media days last week, Spurrier said he expects Garcia to return to the team full-time for the start of preseason practice.

"Stephen has done well," Spurrier said. "He has some guidelines he must follow to be reinstated in August. He's done everything we've asked. He's certainly behaved very well, gone to all the workouts from what I understand.

"So right now he in all likelihood will be set to return," he said.

Garcia was given an unprecedented sixth chance by Spurrier this summer, and Spurrier believes Garcia has finally made the appropriate changes to his life that Spurrier hopes keeps his quarterback out of trouble.

"I guess we don't want to kick him out for stupidity," Spurrier said. "And there's some reasons that he's probably done some things. Basically, we do believe he's a good kid, good person. He's already graduated. With this latest incident, we told him he could go play somewhere else if he wanted to, but he wants stay there.

"He's really made some lifestyle changes to stay there. Hopefully it will keep up. We just felt like he was worth giving another opportunity to sort of change his lifestyle, and thus far he's done it," he said.

Prior to his arrival at South Carolina, Mangus was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Middle Tennessee for three seasons, working under former Gamecocks assistant Rick Stockstill.

Mangus was a quarterback at Florida from 1988 to 1991, including two years under Spurrier. During that time, he was a member of the school's first SEC championship team in 1991.

After graduating in 1992, Mangus remained at Florida for three years, serving in the roles of graduate assistant and assistant offensive line coach. The Gators won two SEC titles (1993 and 1994) and made three bowl appearances during that time.

Edward Aschoff covers SEC football for ESPN.com.

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