Gene Chizik Is Mad As Hell At HBO, Jay Jacobs May Be As Well... But He's Being Diplomatic About It...

Auburn head coach Gene Chizik goes off on HBO. (Thanks The Birmingham News)



AD Jacobs put out a correspondence, that politely expressed the University's concerns...

Jacobs Sayeth Quote... Ahem...

As you have probably heard or read by now, HBO will air a segment on "The State of College Athletics" tonight at 9 p.m. CT. It will be a part of the cable channel's regular "Real Sports With Bryant Gumble (sic)" show.

An HBO producer contacted Auburn Athletics seeking a comment on claims made by several former Auburn football players who said they received improper benefits either while at Auburn or while being recruited to Auburn during the previous football staff's tenure here.

While HBO's producer conceded the network had "no proof" any of the claims are true, the producer indicated the network still intended to run the interviews as part of its “State of College Athletics” piece.

We declined to be interviewed by HBO, but the following statement was provided to the show’s producer last week.

“Auburn Athletics respectfully declines to comment on these alleged claims apparently made by a few former football players. Compliance with all NCAA and Southeastern Conference rules is a major emphasis and top priority for all of our athletic programs at Auburn University.”

** In addition, we have just released the following statement from me to the media.

"We are aware that four former football players have made allegations against Auburn. While HBO confirmed to us they have no proof that any of these claims are true, we contacted both the NCAA and Southeastern Conference as soon as these allegations surfaced. We have engaged outside counsel to investigate this matter and will spare no resources to find the truth."

Thanks to all of you for all that you have done and continue to do for Auburn. Let me assure each of you that we have and will continue to do things the right way.

God Bless and War Eagle,

Jay

1230 UPDATE: McClover also claims that he purchased his college car with $7,000 he got from a booster "that he knew." Junior Rosegreen, a teammate of McClover's, says he saw McClover purchase the car with his Pell Grant moneys.

From Rosegreen's interview with AuburnSports.com

"Stanley is bitter with everybody because he blew $1.2 million at the strip club. He went to the strip club three times a week. He was making it rain with 20-, 10-, 5- and 1-dollar bills and now he's broke. He shouldn’t get mad at Coach (Tommy) Tuberville, Coach (Eddie) Gran and the Auburn Family because he blew his money."

Rosegreen also says that McClover maintains he was paid $20,000 by HBO for his presence in their special...

More when we know more...