Several former Penn State assistant coaches, including former Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, were aware of incidents of child sexual abuse involving Jerry Sandusky, according to testimony released Tuesday in court documents unsealed in Philadelphia.
The documents, part of an insurance lawsuit stemming from allegations that Joe Paterno was aware of Sandusky’s abuse, raise additional questions about just how much former assistants knew about the program’s longtime defensive coordinator, who was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison in 2012.
The testimony comes from former assistant coach Mike McQueary, who said he witnessed Sandusky engaging in a sexual act with a minor in a Penn State shower in 2001, and raised the matter with former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
According to the court documents, Bradley, now the coordinator at UCLA, told McQueary that “another assistant coach had come to him in the early ’90s about a very similar situation” as had another individual “as far back as the early ‘80s about seeing (Sandusky) doing something with a boy.”
McQueary testified that Bradley said the assistant coach from the 1990s was Schiano, a Penn State assistant from 1990-95.
“I can’t remember if it was one night or one morning,” McQueary testified, “but that Greg had come into (Bradley’s) office white as a ghost and said he just saw (Sandusky) doing something to a boy in the shower.”
Penn State President Eric Barron wrote in a statement released Tuesday that the university’s “overriding concern has been, and remains, for the victims of Jerry Sandusky.”
“Although settlements have been reached, it is important to reiterate that the alleged knowledge of former Penn State employees is not proven, and should not be treated as such,” the statement read. “Some individuals deny the claims, and others are unable to defend themselves.
“Speculation also serves to drive a wedge within the Penn State community.”
In May, NBC News reported that as many as six former Penn State coaches witnessed instances of “inappropriate behavior” between Sandusky and young boys as far back as the 1970s.
According to the same unsealed documents, Sandusky sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy who attended a football camp held at Penn State in 1976. That individual, referred to as “John Doe 150,” testified that he told Joe Paterno of the incident, and that Paterno ignored the allegations.
A statement provided by the Paterno through their representative said the “overwhelming evidence confirms that Joe Paterno never engaged in a cover up of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes.”
