Remy Cofield was officially hired as Arkansas general manager back on March 24 and has since been working quietly behind the scenes to get acclimated to the new gig. On Thursday, he made his first public comments since being hired on and offered insight into his role and how the athletic department plans to navigate this new college landscape.
Cofield, a former Director of Scouting for the Boston Celtics and GM of their G-League affiliate Maine Celtics, was hired to “oversee the strategic allocation of department and affiliate resources to support Razorback head coaches in the acquisition and retention of championship-caliber athletic talent,” according to the official release from the school at the time.
The 12-year NBA executive officially offered a much simpler explanation of his day-to-day role as general manager when speaking for the first time on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s just pick up the pieces where things need to be picked up,” Cofield said. “I said to Hunter when we initially got on with this and started working on things, I just want to help people out. Coaching staff needs something, need advice on a particular rule that we’re looking at, call us up, let’s figure it out. If you want to talk about roster, players, all that stuff.
“If you need connection to somebody that I may have, let’s figure it out. So I think in my role it’s just trying to be a connector in a lot of ways, making sure every staff has what they need from a (revenue) share standpoint. But also brought up to speed on the new rules that are coming through, that we’re all kind of learning right now and we don’t have a lot of answers to. But we’re trying to get ahead of it and be proactive in that space.”
One of the key reasons why the general manager role has taken off in college athletics is because coaches were being tasked with handling more and more off-field issues with NIL and transfer portal. On top of their day-to-day operations as coaches, they would also have to negotiate NIL agreements and deal with player representatives. Sam Pittman mentioned his hopes for Cofield taking some of those things off his plate back during spring drills.
“Since we’ve been here, I’ve kind of been the good guy and the bad guy,” Pittman said. “Good, if you come in and you want X amount of money and all that and we feel like that’s the worth. They’re gonna go to him, so I think that buffering system is going to help me tremendously. And it’s personal, you know. Guys are gonna leave, you understand why, but then it becomes personal. We need to take that part out of the game, to me.”
Now, as Cofield’s explained on Thursday, his role is to sort of be the “bad guy” and shield coaches from athletes who are unhappy with rev-share or NIL agreements. That allows the coaches to focus more on what they’ve been hired to do.
“I don’t mind having tough conversations, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, either,” Cofield explained. “I think when you want an answer to a question and it’s negative, that’s just what it is. I think when Sam has those conversations, we want to make sure Sam is a good guy coaching every single day, paying attention to his players’ needs from a football standpoint, and just keeping the money stuff out of it.
“I think that helps him, but again, that’s his situation. Every situation is different. I think for Sam, that helps him in a lot of ways, just to be able to connect with those guys on a personal level and be the person he is on a day-to-day basis. Allow me to be the one to have those tough conversations and say, ‘We can’t do this. We can’t do that’. Or sometimes, deliver some good news. ‘We can do this. We can do that’. I think it’s been positive for him and I hope it continues to be positive.”
On June 6, the House v. NCAA settlement was approved, the landmark decision now allows schools to pay players directly beginning on July 1. Cofield has only been at Arkansas since March and has been focused on getting acclimated to the new role while preparing for what’s to come after July 1, but he believes that the Razorbacks will be more competitive in this new landscape.
“I’m trying these last two months to just kind of get my feet wet,” Cofield said. “I was telling [Kyle Parkinson] this is the second time I’ve been down here you know, seeing the area and I didn’t really know where the media room was so, that’s the biggest thing for me. But coming down to Arkansas, it’s been fantastic ever since I stepped foot down here. People have been really, really nice.
“Our fanbase wants us to be extremely competitive. I’m extremely competitive, all of our coaches are extremely competitive. We’re going to get the right players for Arkansas, that’s the most important for us. We’ll compete with some of the money issues that are going to be out there. I think a lot of the cap stuff that we’re going to see going forward is going to level it out a little more so that we can compete from a money standpoint. But I think it starts with the players, we’ve got to get the right players for us.”
FLASH SALE – HawgSports is 50% off!! For a limited time, join the No. 1 independent source on Arkansas sports and recruiting for half the regular rate!! Get unmatched insider Razorback coverage for the equivalent of $1.03 a week, $4.48 a month and billed at only $53.70 for the entire year!! There is no promo code required for this offer, just HIT THIS LINK now, and you’ll be good to go. This offer ends soon!!
