Harbaugh hires Wayne Lyons' mom
Per Mark Snyder at The Paper That Shall Not Be Named, Gwendolyn Bush, who is the mother of Stanford CB Wayne Lyons, has been hired as the director of player development. On Twitter, she referred to the position as "team mom". I think we can safely assume Lyons is coming.
Harbaugh must've gotten to know her while recruiting Lyons. Also, apparently Lyons is a great student and really good kid, so I'd assume the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
EDIT: So, it sounds like she was also the "team mom" for the South Florida Elite 7-on-7 team that featured, among others, Amari Cooper, Geno Smith, and Teddy Bridgewater. All those guys apparently loved her.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
Her title isn't "Team Mom"
Would it be too much to ask that people use the googles before going off?
February 6th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^
"Team Mom" was just a term used not as a job description, but as an attempt at humor. The job title, if you go back and read the OP, was for director of player development. Get off it, will ya?
February 6th, 2015 at 11:18 AM ^
I won't pass along the qualifications of the team mom, but you can certainly follow the links provided here or google it for yourself. If you do some homework, you might retract or rephrase some of the things you're saying.
February 6th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
but I suspect other boards for other schools are suggesting that Sr was hired to get Jr. And if Sr had become a coach at UCLA and Jr followed, I am sure some here would have questioned it.
And while Sr's bona fides are pretty easily confirmed, Lyons are not and might have an odor to those outside our program.
February 6th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
Michigan hired Wheatley to fill an existing job.
Michigan appears to be CREATING a new job ofr Ms. Lyons.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
They also appear to be creating several other jobs, such as various "analyst" positions that are not held by players' mothers or fathers.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^
Yes - and a few of them also appear to be attempts to get at recruits.
Just like hiring Perry Watson was, and MSU hiring Curtis Blackwell was, etc... it's just scummy.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^
What other jobs appear to be attempts to get recruits?
And good gosh, Wayne Lyons is a one-year guy who hasn't even been very good in college. If this is an attempt to bribe Wayne Lyons, then we'd better REALLY be on the lookout for some shady dealings for guys who are actually really good. I'm only half-joking. If you think this is dirty, then somebody better FOIA Zach Gentry's dad's bank account or see if Brian Cole's mom got a new yacht lately.
(I know a FOIA isn't possible, so don't be an idiot.)
February 6th, 2015 at 6:01 PM ^
What other jobs appear to be attempts to get recruits?
Chris Partridge.
And good gosh, Wayne Lyons is a one-year guy who hasn't even been very good in college.
I'm pretty sure it's about the high school guys on the elite 7-on-7 team she's been a "team mom" for, not Wayne Lyons.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:19 PM ^
Yikes. Do you really think a kid's going to choose a school because of the "team mom"? Is that how distrusting you are of college athletics?
February 7th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
Do I think a kid is solely going to choose a school because of the "team mom", or because his former high school coach is there, or because the guy who ran the football academy he attended is a recruiter there, or because they're a Nike/Adidas school?
No.
Do I think those things are a FACTOR in these kids choices? You better bet. There is a reason most of these "recruiting" coordinator types often have previous relationships with or entry into the world of desired recruits after all.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^
If Lyon's mom wasn't qualified, which she clearly appears to be, then it would be unethical...its wrong to give someone a job who isn't qualified. Your assertion regarding the ethics of this situation would have changed if Lyons was a stud athlete are completely immaterial. The ethics in this situation deal squarely with her qualifications.
February 6th, 2015 at 9:23 AM ^
Nope. I'm saying that there's clearly another reason for the hire, which essentially means that she must be qualified for the job. There's no need to look for something shady here.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
February 6th, 2015 at 9:48 AM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
Personally, I don't want MIchigan bending over backwards to appease everyone and "look" like they're doing the right thing. That's what happened when Hoke apologized for "stakegate", and frankly it made Michigan look ridiculous and weak.
Here it "looks" bad on the surface, only if you're unfamiiliar with the history, but I don't give two shits what it looks like. If Harbaugh wanted her for the job, believe she was the most qualified, then damnit he should hire her. I obviously want Michigan to be beyond reproach too, but it's not a possible ideal to attain no matter how hard they will assuredly try, and I most definitely don't want Michigan to sacrifice something that they think makes them better in order to simply give the appearance of being beyond reproach.
To me, and here's the kicker, MIchigan is going to get negative press no matter what, because we're an easy target. Just look at the whole Weber thing. Or that one recruit whose dad "threw Mattison out of his house" for GREATLY offending them and going to the radio to tell everyone about it. I have doubts they did anything wrong in either case, and yet there they are, just taking it on the chin for doing nothing wrong. So much for being beyond reproach.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^
February 12th, 2015 at 5:19 AM ^
Harbaugh can address this in a presser - not that I think he will. Appearance shouldn't interfere with the correct call if it was made. If she is qualified I don't care who her son is. The position is not high profile enough that we will ever know probably. In an organization like this there is quite a bit of wash for this type of hire. If something unethical occurs so that Harbaugh is impugned that changes things. That is not the case for the time being.
I'm tired of infighting in the Fort. Harbaugh is innocent until proven guilty in my mind and gets a pass until something is intercepted. A position like this doesn't need more than 20 mins of the coach's time to complete. You don't need to open the job to the public and vet it. Get it done... next.
February 6th, 2015 at 12:44 PM ^
1) She seems qualified for the job
2) Being qualified for the job doesn't mean it isn't a made up position created to lure her kid.
February 6th, 2015 at 8:56 AM ^
I'm in complete agreement. I initially have no issue with this, but let us all remember this when an SEC team or Ohio State hires the guardian of a future 5-star recruit. I have a sneaking suspicion that we would be crying bloody murder if Ohio State did this to a recruit both us and them were in on - even if the person is qualified, which I have no reason to believe this woman is not.
February 6th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^
Hiring the guardian of a future 5-star recruit is perhaps a different story than hiring the mom of a former 4-star (who has played like a 3-star) with one year of eligibility remaining.
February 6th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
Hiring the mom of a former 4-star (who has played like a 3-star) with one year of eligibility remaining... who also happens to be the "team mom" for a nationally acclaimed 7-on-7 football team full of players we'd like to recruit - isn't so different of a story.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^
last month that should generate a lot of controversy. If Harbaugh was looking to bolster the roster by hiring relatives, this wouldn't be the way to do it. If recruiting had gone a little differently, we might not even take her son as a grad transfer. This announcement may have come out today, but she was in the school directory at the beginning of the semester.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
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February 6th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^
Go look at the Football section on the link below. Lots of Analyst type roles.
February 6th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
I hate it when guys showboat or talk trash, but...
I LOVE THIS!!!
February 7th, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^
concerns about having hired Tyrone Wheatley now that Junior has signed with Michigan?
