Penn State: McQueary won’t coach Saturday due to threats

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. >> Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary will miss Saturday’s game against Nebraska after the school said he received "multiple threats."

McQueary testified in a grand jury investigation that eventually led to child sex-abuse charges being filed against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The ensuing scandal brought down longtime coach Joe Paterno, who was fired by the university on Wednesday amid growing criticism that he should have done more to stop the alleged abuse.

McQueary, who testified that he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy in the shower, encountered similar scrutiny. The university’s athletic department released a one-line statement Thursday night saying it would be "in the best interest of all" if the receivers coach didn’t attend the season’s final home game at Beaver Stadium.

Earlier Thursday, coach Tom Bradley, named by the school to replace Paterno on an interim basis, said it was up to university administrators to decide if McQueary should coach. Bradley also said he was not part of any discussion about potentially dismissing McQueary.

According to the grand jury report, McQueary told Paterno what he saw Sandusky doing the next day, and Paterno then reported the information to athletic director Tim Curley.

McQueary was also called to a separate meeting with Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz. Schultz, in turn, notified university president Graham Spanier.

Curley and Schultz — as well as Paterno — testified they were told that Sandusky behaved inappropriately in that 2002 incident, but not to the extent of McQueary’s graphic account to the grand jury.

Sandusky was arrested and charged last Saturday. His lawyer maintains his client is innocent.

Paterno has not been implicated, and prosecutors have said he is not a target of the investigation. Curley and Schultz were each charged with perjury and failing to report the 2002 incident to authorities.

Curley and Schultz, through their attorneys, have denied wrongdoing.

But Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spanier — who was fired along with Paterno on Wednesday — have all faced mounting public criticism for failing to call police and prevent further suspected cases.

So, too, has McQueary, who has not spoken publicly. His mother, Anne, said Thursday they have been advised not to comment.

Schultz has retired, while Curley is on paid administrative leave. The school is considering the futures of Curley and McQueary.

"The university — and you’ll have to ask the university — still has still has some deliberations to make in that respect," Gov. Tom Corbett, a member of the school’s Board of Trustees, said after a trustees meeting earlier Thursday. "I have to see that the university addresses this in the proper way."

A Penn State graduate and State College native, McQueary also played for Paterno. He was the starting quarterback of the 1997 team that finished 9-3. McQueary joined the staff as a graduate assistant in 2000 — the season after Sandusky retired — and moved on to become receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2004.

McQueary relays the offensive play calls from the press box on the field. Graduate assistant coach Terrell Golden is expected to assume McQueary’s sideline duties against Nebraska.