Penn State : Key witness, assistant PSU coach put on administrative leave
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State wide receivers coach Mike McQueary has been placed on administrative leave, university President Rod Erickson announced Friday.
The move was announced a day after Penn State said McQueary would not be on the sidelines when the No. 12 Nittany Lions (8-1) play 19th-ranked Nebraska at noon Saturday because he has received multiple threats.
McQueary testified in a grand jury investigation that led to sexual abuse charges against former PSU defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Football coach Joe Paterno was then fired by the Board of Trustees on Wednesday night along with President Graham Spanier.
The grand jury report says that administrators didn’t contact authorities after a graduate assistant, revealed to be McQueary, said he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy in the team’s football facility shower in 2002. Authorities have said that Sandusky met many of his alleged victims through The Second Mile, a charity he founded more than 30 years ago for at-risk children.
Sandusky was arrested and charged last Saturday. His lawyer has said that Sandusky maintains his innocence.
‘Due to multiple threats made against Assistant Coach Mike McQueary, the University has decided it would be in the best interest of all for Assistant Coach McQueary not to be in attendance at Saturday’s Nebraska game,’ read a statement from Penn State Athletics released Thursday night.
Athletic Director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz have both been charged with perjury after failing to report an incident of abuse in 2002. Curley is on administrative leave, while Schultz resigned earlier this week.
‘It became clear that coach McQueary could not function in this role under these circumstances,’ Erickson said Friday, according to the Associated Press. McQueary was advised of the situation Friday afternoon, Erickson said.
On whether McQueary would be fired, Erickson replied, ‘there are complexities to that issue that I am not prepared to go into at this point.’
McQueary is a Penn State graduate and State College, Pa., native. He played for Paterno and was the starting quarterback of the 1997 team that finished 9-3. McQueary went on to join the staff as a graduate assistant in 2000 — the year following Sandusky’s retirement — and became the receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2004.
Graduate assistant coach Terrell Golden is expected to assume McQueary’s duties Saturday against Nebraska.
Published on November 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu
