Penn State’s Mike McQueary won’t coach Saturday

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Penn State receivers coach Mike McQueary, a key figure in the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, will not coach at Saturday’s game against Nebraska because of concerns about his safety.

‘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,’ the school announced in a release.

In March 2002, McQueary witnessed one of the alleged acts of child sexual abuse by Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coordinator. McQueary said he saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in the showers at the school’s Lasch Football Building. He told Paterno, who informed Athletic Director Tim Curley, but the incident was never reported to police.

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Paterno, university President Graham Spanier and interim Senior Vice President Gary Schultz have all been fired because of the incident. Curley is on administrative leave.

A Penn State graduate, 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.

On Thursday, players expressed support for McQueary. ‘I want him out there. We need him out there.... He has a good heart,’ cornerback Stephon Morris said. ‘A lot of people probably thought he could’ve done more, but he did what he could.’

Penn State Police Chief Tyrone Parham wrote in an email to the Associated Press on Thursday that his force is ‘taking extra precautions and has added additional resources for the game.’

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-- Houston Mitchell