in october 2011, the ncaa closed its 13-month investigation into the auburn university recruitment of newton. the ncaa conducted over 50 interviews, and reviewed bank records, irs documents, telephone calls, and e-mail messages. the ncaa found nothing that would indicate auburn participated in a pay-for-play in recruiting newton to become an auburn student. the ncaa would say that the charges failed to "meet a burden of proof, which is a higher standard than rampant public speculation online and in the media". the ncaa's stacey osburn would say "we've done all we can do. we've done all the interviews. we've looked into everything, and there's nothing there. unless something new comes to light that's credible and we need to look at, it's concluded."