Arkansas identified its top target for its pivotal general manager position earlier this week under new head coach Ryan Silverfield.
Today, Silverfield's Razorbacks are getting their man.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Gaizka Crowley is departing the University of Arizona, where he's been G.M. for the past two years, to take over the general manager role in Silverfield's inaugural Arkansas staff.
The move continues one of the more remarkable ascents in college football's ever-burgeoning personnel space.
A former XOS digital employee who had prep football and additional coaching experience at the high school level in his native Florida, Crowley has zoomed from working in personnel at the Football Championship Subdivision level at Eastern Illinois to the Football Bowls Subdivision space at both UNLV and Western Michigan, where he helped play a pivotal role in Lance Taylor establishing the foundational components of a roster that this season helped WMU win the Mid-American Conference Championship.
Crowley was pried away from Taylor by then-new Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. The Wildcats capped one of the best turnarounds in Power Conference football this season when they won nine games and earned an invitation to San Diego's Holiday Bowl.
Silverfield is the new leader at Arkansas following his strong success at Memphis. He faces a stringent rebuild at an Arkansas program that, per numerous sources in the Southeastern Conference, had the lowest-funded football roster in the 16-team league during the 2025 season.
Arkansas leadership has pledged greater resources for Silverfield, whom sources said has been assured of increased money for revenue-sharing and Name, Image and Likeness components as well as being empowered to grow the Razorbacks' staff -- especially in the personnel space.
Hunter Yurachek fired Sam Pittman in late September on the heels of a blowout-loss to visiting Notre Dame and then tabbed Bobby Petrino as head coach.
The Razorbacks finished the season 2-10 and losers in each of their final 10 contests.
When the 2026 season kicks off under Silverfield, it will be an Arkansas program that has not won 10 or more games in 15 years when the Hogs posted an 11-2 mark and went to the Cotton Bowl under Bobby Petrino, who was forced out amidst scandal before the 2012 season ever started.
Pittman had early success at Arkansas and posted a nine-win campaign that included a rousing win against Texas, but the program absorbed 30 combined losses the past four years.
Silverfield logged a 50-25 mark atop the Memphis program and closed particularly well there in his final three years; the Tigers won 29 games from 2023-25 and beat programs such as Arkansas, Florida State and Iowa State along the way.
The Razorbacks have not fully revealed their 2026 slate but they have an early non-conference clash against Big 12 resident Utah on Sept. 12, 2026.