Player reaction to Cougill being ruled ineligible for 2010-11 season

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — News quickly spread across the North Liberty Community Center on Tuesday after Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery announced that sophomore Brennan Cougill would be academically ineligible and spending his sophomore year at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

Here are some quotes from teammates of Cougill’s at Iowa, as well as a former Hawkeye player, I managed to compile Tuesday night:

Matt Gatens, Iowa junior:

“It’s disappointing. There are so many resources around the campus they gave us to help us out in that area. Brennan, he got off to a rough start obviously with his grades and didn’t recover in time. I think it’s just an opportunity for him to learn and hopefully grow and not let it happen again. He’ll bounce back from it. He’s a good kid, and we’ll miss him. He’s a good kid, a good player, and he’s a good friend. He’s a good guy. It’s just bad to see it happen to a good guy like him. I think Brennan knows it’s no one else’s but his fault that he let it happen. Hopefully, he’ll go to JUCO for a year or how long it takes and bounce back and have a successful career.”

Darryl Moore, former Iowa player:

“It’s tough, and I like ‘Cougs.’ It’s tough because you get the free tutors and everything. You have a lot of resources at your disposal, and I think guys should take advantage of that stuff. You get your school paid for and everything, and I just think sometimes, college is a different transition, but you have a lot of resources and help to get you through it. It’s tough.”

“He’s going to realize what he had when he was here, and it’s going to hurt. He’s going to sit back and watch his teammates play this year, and that’s the toughest thing for an athlete, to realize ‘That could’ve been me out there.’ I think he’ll learn a lot from this experience, and he’ll get it together.”

Cully Payne, Iowa sophomore:

“That’s unfortunate for him. I love him. Me and him are real close since we got here. Roomed together the first day. He’s going to go get his academics together at Kirkwood or wherever he’s going to go and just move on.”

“He’s a good kid. He just had a tough time transitioning. All freshman year, he had a big role, started a bunch of games in the Big Ten, which I know was tough for him at times. He was a freshman, he’ll make mistakes, but I think the biggest thing is he’ll learn from them.”

Jarryd Cole, Iowa senior:

“It’s going to be a loss for us losing him, but the same, it may also be a blessing in disguise, not that we’re going to lose him, but for him, to get out of the atmosphere and focus on things that he needs to do. Not being eligible is definitely a personal issue, and it’s something that he needs to do. There’s nothing that anybody else can do for him or help him with.”

Devyn Marble, Iowa freshman:

“It’s really unfortunate. I really like Cougill as a player and as a person. Our friendship has grown over the past year, year-and-a-half. I was coming down even before I was committed and stuff, and we’ve had a good friendship. Hopefully he’ll be back next year to play and for the years to come after that.”