Birmingham| The Auburn football team and it’s recruitment of former quarterback Cam Newton is still being investigated by the NCAA.
The investigation, which started during the 2010 season, was the main topic of discussion during Auburn head coach Gene Chizik’s time at the 2011 Southeastern Conference Media Days.
“The NCAA on more than one occasion has said that Auburn has done nothing wrong in the recruitment of Cam Newton,” Chizik said. “Nothing’s changed…. I feel really good when my head hits the pillow at night.”
With major college programs, NCAA investigations could take months and even years before they are resolved. The NCAA took five years before they ruled on the investigation involving Southern California and Reggie Bush. The University of Tennessee has been under investigation for over a year with no sign of an end. Chizik said that the investigation has not hurt recruiting for his staff.
“I can only speak for us personally,” Chizik said. “Our recruiting class right now is really, really going well. We’ve had two top-five back-to-back recruiting classes. We don’t expect this one to be any different.”
Chizik also said that the investigation has not stopped him from enjoying the success of last season and the 2010 national championship.
“I’ve had a blast,” Chizik said. “Again, I think one of the things that we do a great job of at Auburn is keeping everything within the family. What an incredible journey we had in winning the national championship. It hasn’t taken the joy out of anything. It hasn’t changed anything for our players or our coaches or administration. We’ve had a ball.”
Last month at the SEC meetings in Destin, Fla., NCAA vice president for enforcement Julie Roe Lach told Chizik that the investigation was not over.
“It was a real simple question of process to Julie, who happens to be the head of NCAA enforcement, so I thought there would be nobody better to ask,” Chizik said. “…It was very informative. There were some clarifications that were made that had to do with the process. So I was very appreciative that we got some things cleared up and that I was able to be educated a little bit further in the questions that I had.”
