Cougill says he's committed to Hawkeye basketball

NORTH LIBERTY - Iowa sophomore Brennan Cougill said he's a Hawkeye for the long term, despite rumors he could be leaving the team for a variety of reasons.

'Big time,' Cougill said when asked if he planned to stay at Iowa after the coaching change. 'I was going to stay a Hawkeye.' Asked if he's on track to play this fall, Cougill said, 'Oh yeah, everything's fine.' Cougill, a 6-foot-9 post player, isn't taking summer classes but is working at Iowa basketball camps.

Iowa Coach Fran Mc-Caffery has altered the team's workout regimen, which is designed to build speed and endurance.

Cougill said he's dropped 13 pounds and hopes to get in the 250-pound range for the season.

He said his instructions are to work on his jump shots. 'They'll institute a low-post game,' he said he was told.

Cougill added team chemistry is strong because the players endured a tough stretch at season's end.

'That's really what brought us all together,' he said. 'By then we went through it, from our coach not being able to coach us (midseason medical problems), to our coach coming back and to us like hitting a little skid there where we didn't play our hardest and kind of got blown out of the gym a couple of times when we shouldn't have to a point of not having a coach. That's when we all came together and said, 'Hey we've got to get this stuff done.''