A USA Today article alleges that multiple SEC coaches believed Auburn was using a secret camera to film the opposing team’s practices in Neville Arena during the 2017-18 season.

An Auburn spokesperson told AL.com the program does not have a statement in response to the story. The article states Auburn did not respond to USA Today’s request for comment.

The article cites several anonymous sources who claim the topic was brought up during an SEC coaches meeting following the 2017-18 season. Neither the article nor the accusations offer any concrete proof that Auburn cheated.

The article states: “An SEC spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the conversation took place in 2018 after the SEC office was ‘made aware of general concerns about video cameras in basketball arenas related to visiting team practices and informally received information involving an individual institution. Uncorroborated information is typically shared with an involved institution, which occurred during the off-season period.’”

“The SEC did not name the institution, but according to six people affiliated with different SEC programs, Auburn was the team at the center of the spying allegations. With head coach Bruce Pearl in the room, however, nobody wanted to stand up and point the finger directly. During a tense moment, according to those people with knowledge of the meeting, then-South Carolina coach Frank Martin implored his colleagues to stop with anonymous sniping and say what they wanted to say.”

According to the article, there was a “change in the men’s basketball manual for the 2019 season. The new procedure required a member of the home team’s game-management staff to notify a member of the visiting team’s traveling party about the location of all video cameras, which had to be powered off with a cover applied to the lens if one was available.”

USA Today’s report comes as the University of Michigan continues to deal with the fallout of its sign-stealing scandal that led to a three-game suspension for head coach Jim Harbaugh. The article claims most cheating, like what it accuses Auburn of, is frequent and hard to prove. Most scandals do not have a “smoking gun” like Connor Stalions at Michigan, Wolken writes.

At the end of the story, Wolken writes one anonymous coaching staff tried practicing a new signal in Neville Arena the night before a game and Auburn’s bench recognized it during the ensuing game.

Wolken wrote: “There’s no way they could have known,” said the coach, who no longer works in the SEC.”

“The reason he came to that conclusion was simple, he said: Before the shootaround at Auburn, they had never run the play or used that signal before.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]