Michigan Football: Did Wolverines mess up letting Devin Bush Sr. leave?

Michigan football lost Devin Bush Sr. to the staff at Ole Miss Friday and you have to wonder if the Wolverines will regret that.

You can’t keep every player and every coach, no matter what sport and Michigan football is no different as fans were reminded Friday with the exit of Devin Bush Sr. to Ole Miss.

The move shouldn’t have come as a surprise, not with the connection between Bush and Chris Partridge, who was recently hired to be the co-DC at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin.

Then, when Michigan football went in another direction with its safeties and linebackers coaches, it made sense that Bush Sr.  jumped at the chance to go somewhere else and with the Rebels, he will be the recruiting coordinator.

Bush Sr. is the father of former Michigan football standout Devin Bush Jr. and came to the Wolverines back in 2016 after being a high school head coach in Florida.

Over the past few years, he has worked as an analyst for the coaching staff but was never able to work his way into an on-field role. There were times that he filled in, such as prior to the Outback Bowl a few years ago and leading up to the Citrus Bowl against Alabama.

When Partridge left, he seemed like a natural fit as the safeties coach, especially with his recruiting ties to places like Florida. Bush Sr. was a first-round draft pick and won a Super Bowl with the Rams, so he had NFL credentials. The fact that he coached his son, another first-round pick, won’t hurt on the recruiting trail either.

It’s a smart move for Ole Miss, who gets a good football guy that should do really well on the recruiting trail. It’s notable that he won’t be in a coaching position at Ole Miss either, so maybe there is a reason the Wolverines didn’t want him as a position coach.

However, when it comes to recruiting, it’s likely Bush would have been a better choice than Bob Shoop, although Brian Jean-Mary has had a solid presence in Florida in addition to having experience as a defensive coordinator.

Either way, once Michigan football pulled the trigger on those moves, passing on Bush Sr. again it was only a matter of time until he left and Ole Miss was the most logical choice.

SOURCE: Peterson, Chris. "Michigan Football: Did Wolverines mess up letting Devin Bush Sr. leave?" Fansided - GBM Wolverine, 8 February 2020, https://gbmwolverine.com/2020/02/08/michigan-football-did-wolverines-make-mistake-letting-devin-bush-sr-leave/