M. Hoops | Cofield clarifies transfer decision

On the first Friday after spring classes began, the Quakers sat in a Palestra room and watched film of NJIT, which they would travel to face the next morning. When the session broke up, sophomore guard Remy Cofield pulled coach Glen Miller aside.

Cofield told Miller that he felt stressed and anxious and that playing basketball was only worsening things. That was the first and last time they would discuss the matter.

Cofield parted ways with the program that day, and he plans to leave Penn altogether at semester's end and transfer to a college closer to his family in Newton, Mass.

He said in an e-mail interview that he felt uncomfortable with his "role on the team or lack thereof," which since an active freshman campaign has been nearing benchwarmer status. Cofield started to think about leaving at the beginning of the year and "gradually fell into" the decision, he said.

Penn e-mailed a two-paragraph statement to the media four days after Cofield departed, in which Miller said that "Remy has been dealing with some ongoing family situations and has reached a point where he feels it is in his best interests to spend more of his time focusing on them."

"When I said personal reasons for why I was leaving, it was about me and what I was going through which was [affecting] my family and causing concerns with my family back home," Cofield said after the statement was released. "I wanted to be closer to my family so I could regain that comfort that I used to have when I played ball. My family is just fine back home and is looking forward for me to get back into the swing of things in a new place."

Once he decided to transfer, he felt he should quit the team immediately so he "would not be a burden" to his teammates or coaches, he said. He will finish the academic year at Penn.

The Quakers' litany of injuries had not translated into more minutes for Cofield, who was athletic by Ivy League standards and was listed at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds. He appeared in eight of 14 games (starting in two) and totaled 85 minutes, ninth-most on the team. He scored 22 points and committed nine turnovers but also grabbed eight steals and had an efficient 43.8 field-goal percentage.

All this came after a freshman season where he played in 19 games despite a stress fracture in his foot that ultimately sidelined him during the Ivy season. Cofield's 171 minutes played were nearly as many as current captain Brennan Votel logged last year, and he averaged just under three points per game.

He hinted at his potential by scoring a team-high 20 points in a loss versus Virginia, and he played 21 minutes at home against Princeton. His free-throw percentage was always among Penn's best, although he was a liability on defense.

Because of NCAA rules, Cofield must sit out a year if he attempts to play elsewhere. As for whether he will try to, Cofield said: "I thought about playing wherever I go and I asked myself this question: do you still love playing ball? As I've had time to think, I definitely do love playing ball."

"I know that I have a ton of potential to reach as a player and I'm nowhere near where I can be. I have a year and a half to work on the things in my game that are weak.

"Being here at Penn, I also did not believe that I could develop into the player that I wanted to be. . That has bothered me and played a part in my decision to leave. [A] fresh start is exactly what I need."

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