The University of Michigan (UM) athletic department has been creating some new positions at Jim Harbaugh's behest, but the most recent one may have something else to it.
According to MLive.com, Harbaugh, the school's newly hired head football coach, already created positions such as recruiting operations coordinator, senior offensive analyst and senior defensive analyst. Just the latter two have been filled, but there is a fourth new position, director of player development, which has apparently been filled with Gwendolyn Bush.
Bush is the mother of Wayne Lyons, who announced almost a month ago he was planning to return to school for a fifth season of NCAA eligibility as a graduate student. After four years at Stanford, the cornerback did not say where he was returning and MLive.com reported UM is in a "strong position to land" Lyons.
Lyons and Stanford teammate Kevin Hogan both announced they would return for their fifth year, and it appeared as if that meant a return to Palo Alto.
Hiring Bush for a newly created football position was more than likely not a recruiting move, but rather another indicator of Lyons' transfer decision. Harbaugh initially recruited Lyons to come to Stanford before the coach took a job with the San Francisco 49ers.
As director of player development, Bush will most likely be in charge of helping UM student-athletes with time management in regards to balancing team activities and course work while also getting enough sleep and down time.
The Stanford Daily reported that Lyons was most likely a late-round draft pick had he declared for the NFL after the end of last season. Playing another year would likely only help his draft stock.