a usb hub that connects to the GPIO pin's
it would not work because of the fact the hub would have to be powered externally. The Pi does not have the power to spare if you all ready are using the on board USB ports. I have a Pi running my bit coin usb interrupters threw a external powered hub since they will not run when directly plugged into the Pi.
I was thinking of a board like
raspberry-pi|---------------------|raspberry-pi_usb-|
| power-supply| >|---------------|usb-wifi|-------|
power plug-in----> usb-hub|------> ether-net|------>|