The Penn State Board of Trustees has asked interim head coach Tom Bradley to have assistant coach Mike McQueary off the sidelines for Saturday's game against Nebraska, according to the Lehigh Valley newspaper The Morning Call.
McQueary, the former PSU graduate assistant who, according to a grand jury report witnessed Jerry Sandusky sexually molest an underage boy on university property, will continue to serve as an assistant on the Nittany Lions staff. The Board of Trustees has asked that McQueary coach from the press box rather than the sidelines for fear of his safety and of media attention, this according to an anonymous member of the board.
The board member said they do not plan to fire McQueary or ask him to leave his position.
A former quarterback for Penn State from 1994-97, McQueary worked as a graduate assistant after his playing days ended. He testified to a grand jury last December that in 2002 he walked into the Penn State locker rooms to see Sandusky forcing sexual intercourse on a boy estimated to be 10 years old. McQueary told head coach Joe Paterno about the incident the next day, and Paterno told athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz. Neither reported the incident to the authorities.
"The fact that someone saw something wrong and did not take the time to ask the right questions, that's the part it all goes back on," said the anonymous board member. "Either [Paterno] knew about it and brushed it under the rug, or he didn't ask enough questions."
Update: Penn State trustees met Thursday night to discuss McQueary's future with the football team.
