Former Auburn coach Gene Chizik lashed out at media reports accusing the football program of flouting the NCAA rules and called it "the most scrutinized" and sometimes vilified program in college football.

Chizik spoke Monday evening, hours after athletic director Jay Jacobs said an internal review into allegations by former players of academic fraud before the 2010 BCS championship game found no evidence of wrongdoing. The coach, who was fired after a 3-9 season, said he ran a clean program and decried reports going back to Cam Newton's Heisman Trophy-winning season three years ago.

"The notion that we would pay a player in any shape or form to come to Auburn or stay at Auburn is absurd," Chizik said in a 35-minute interview with writers who cover the team.

The more recent accusations surfaced in separate reports. Former New York Times and Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts raised allegations from former players of grade changes and payments or offers of money, and ESPN The Magazine reported that there was widespread synthetic marijuana use among football players from the national title team.

Jacobs posted in a letter to fans on the school's website the results of a review by his department and the university's Internal Auditing department. Auburn worked with the NCAA in investigating the academic fraud, said Jack Smith, the athletic department's director of strategic communications.

Among the steps they took were interviewing professors and reviewing computer documents, a person familiar with the process told ESPN's Joe Schad.

"As the facts demonstrate, the article is clearly flawed," Jacobs said in the statement. "I want you to know that I will always act on the basis of facts. I will continue to fight for Auburn University, and I will continue to defend this great institution against such attacks."

Jacobs had disputed Roberts' report in an earlier statement but said Auburn would review the claims. This time, he and Chizik fired back.

"I'm tired of these attacks on Auburn," Jacobs said, adding that the football program hadn't been found guilty of a major violation in 20 years.

The athletic director made a point-by-point rebuttal to a number of charges made by former players, including defensive back Mike McNeil, who pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery on April 8.

Roberts cited three players who said the team was informed that as many as nine were ineligible for the BCS championship game against Oregon in January 2011, including tailback Mike Dyer.

Jacobs said that six players were academically ineligible and none made the trip to Arizona.

McNeil had alleged that he had a failing grade changed to a 'C' to make him eligible for the title game. Jacobs said the internal review found that all university policies for grade changes were followed and that McNeil provided a medical excuse for absences.