Former Auburn coach Gene Chizik defended the program he once coached to a national championship victory on Monday in the midst of an NCAA investigation that claims the team violated multiple rules. Chizik called Auburn "the most scrutinized" and sometimes vilified program in college football in a 25-minute interview with the Auburn media, according to the Birmingham News.
Chizik, who granted his first interview since being fired late November, supported the statement released by Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs on Monday denying the allegations facing the Auburn football program. "That's why I'm here today," Chizik said. "I'm here because I care about my reputation, I care about the integrity of who I am and what I do, and I'm simply giving out the facts, because I'm 100 percent confident that we did it right."
After working with the NCAA on Auburn's internal review of the allegations of academic fraud, the school found no evidence of wrongdoing. Chizik also told WJOX that his coaching staff never pressured a professor to change a grade for the benefit of a player.
The former coach cited Jacobs' report time and again, saying that Auburn needed to respond with facts and data.
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