The Buffalo Bills are getting involved in a trend that continues to grow in the NFL, as they have hired a former MIT graduate to develop an analytics department for the club.
Michael Lyons, who holds an additional degree from the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business, will undertake the development from the ground up.
Russ Brandon announced on WGR that the Bills have hired a Director of Analytics, Mike Lyons, an East Aurora native formally of Xerox
— WGR 550 (@WGR550) October 30, 2013
It's a move that Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon said will help the organization take a big step forward, according to the team's official website.
"Mike will be leading the department and he will work with different project teams along the way,” said Brandon. “We have a lot of pieces in place already here through the football administrative department and through the things we want to do business-wise. We have a long list of things for Mike to start working on.”
Brandon added that Lyons will work closely with people at every level of the organization, including head coach Doug Marrone.
“It’s another layer of information,” said Brandon. “Really it is just another spoke in the wheel of providing as much quality in depth information we can to make informed decisions across all of our business platforms. The main focus will be football at this point and we’ll layer that in as we move forward. The whole concept will be bringing the analytics element to everything that we do.”
