Mike McQueary: Sex-abuse witness under scrutiny

Assistant coach Mike McQueary of the Penn State Nittany Lions walks the sidelines against the Syracuse Orangemen during the second half at Beaver Stadium September 12, 2009 in State College, Pennsylvania.

/ Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

A legendary head coach and longtime president have been fired. The athletic director and vice president face perjury charges.

But none of those high-profile figures at Penn State ever witnessed the alleged sex abuse committed by former coach Jerry Sandusky. In fact, according to investigators, only two people did: One was a janitor. The other was former graduate assistant Mike McQueary.

McQueary, who is now the wide receivers coach, has so far kept his job - and according to interim coach Tom Bradley, he'll be coaching this Saturday when the Nittany Lions take on Nebraska. Through it all, McQueary has remained silent.

"It's not that he's not willing," his father, John J. McQueary, told the New York Times. "I think it's eating him up not to be able to tell his side, but he's under investigation by the grand jury. He'll make it. He's a tough kid."

Complete coverage: The Penn State Scandal
Paterno's supporters run amok over firing

Whether McQueary should keep his job is certainly debatable. But more bewildering his why, after saying he witnessed Sandusky assault a young boy in the Penn State showers in 2002, did he not stop the alleged abuse, let alone call the police.

Instead, McQueary, who was 28 at the time, called his father, who went to Paterno and reported the incident. Paterno notified the athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary Schultz, who in turn notified president Graham Spanier.

The rest is history. Painful history for a community known as Happy Valley.

Since history cannot be undone and we don't know why McQueary didn't take stronger action after witnessing such a heinous crime, we are left with only one other question: Why is he still on the coaching staff?

CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel has two theories - one is that McQueary has immunity as a whistleblower (even if his whistle was barely audible). The other theory is that the Pennsylvania attorney general's office doesn't want to lose McQueary as a cooperative witness and has asked the school not to alienate the assistant coach by firing him.

No one knows because McQueary remains silent. But Doyel is blunt in his assessment, saying the idea that McQueary will be coaching on Saturday is "unsightly to the eyes, inappropriate to common decency, (and) disrespectful to Sandusky's alleged victims."

[KidiniMike]

We do not have a litmus test to find out if a coach or athlete has the potential to become like a Penn State Sandusky. However, we do have a Child Safety sensitivity training workshop that teaches how to implement child safety education and how to respond to child safety issues.

The Kidini Sensitivity Training workshop
will provide educators information on children at risk issues so they use best choices when teaching and mentoring children.
This type of support education will reduce the risk of a child becoming a victim of an athlete, coach, or school.

When you complete a Driver's Ed course your auto insurance premium is reduced.
We hope to have the same protocol for the
Kidini Sensitivity Training workshop for all teachers, coaches and schools that purchase liability insurance.

[ralphing]

Has anyone checked to see if a 10 year old boy is missing from back in 2002?

Sandusky is caught red handed with his pants down, having sex with a young boy. He see's that McQuery has seen him, then walks away. He quickly gets dressed and gets out of the building with the boy knowing the cops will be after him in minutes. Maybe he decides to silence the boy as a witness so there is no proof he did anything? He gets called out by Paterno and the other administrators for having a boy in the shower, but there is no record they asked who the boy was. The DA doesn't know either. He should be required by the police to name the boy so he can be added to the list of the current eight boys identified in the grand jury filing.

I'll bet he won't do it because the boy is no longer among us.

[donatobiagioni]

For shame, how did he simply walk away knowing what he left behind. For shame on his father for not calling the police as well when he found out what his son witnessed. How did they both sleep all these years.
To continue life as if nothing happened is beyond anything I can actually begin to understand. What kind of man would simply walk away. What must have gone through the little boys mind. That young child knew there was no one there to help him because even someone who saw what was happening did nothing to save him from that hell.
For SHAME!!!!

[guest173]

A janitor also saw this evil??????????? How many stupid men are involved in this ongoing abuse?????? report it !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I worked at a gas station and called the police almost every day for things like theft of $7 of gas and these men can't tell the police a kid is being raped by an old man???!!!!!!!!!!!

[I-C-Warming]

Firing McQ would be hypocritical. Sure the stink on him is the most obvious, but the people who could fire him are people who should be fired themselves. Penn State needs to peel this back and scrape out all the gangrene. If there is a football program left when they are done it means the scrapers are part of the problem and must go too.

[my2cents-2]

At first, I thought McQueary was just a disgusting coward. Now, after thinking about it, it seems to me he was a calculating lowlife. What if he saw what he saw, then ran to Daddy for advice on how to *use* this hot potato information? Look at what did happen: McQueary ended up with a plum coaching career. Connect the dots. He's lower than low - and his father with him.

I am just guessing here, but I have an inkling McQueary was one of those football bullies in high school - the arrogant jocks who got their jollies picking on other kids. Lord knows he showed minus zero empathy to that kid in the shower.

[canislupus16]

Agree 100 percent, my2cents. From the get-go I've been asking, why not McQueary? He SAW the incident. Nothing was done and he should have brought it to a conclusion. This was all about his career.

Everybody keeps referring to him as this grad assistant or grad student, and glosses over or overlooks all together that MCQUEARY WAS PATERNO'S AND PSU'S STARTING QUARTERBACK IN 1997. Further, he was also an ASSISTANT COACH in 2002 when he witnessed Sandusky committing sexual assault on a 10-year old. McQueary and Paterno and the PSU program went way back. After 1997 at PSU, McQueary failed in the pros, slithered back to PSU to go to grad school and undoubtedly his chief objective was to get a graduate assistantship as an assistant coach, which he did.

McQueary was no kid at that point. He was a 28-year old grown adult. He knew right from wrong and he knew damn well what he saw was plenty wrong. And after consulting with daddy and Joe, dropped it.

Your last comment about McQueary being a bully. We have no proof of any such thing, although it wouldn't surprise me either. But there is recent video of McQueary as assistant coach on the field, and just his swaggar and smirk, and even the way he chews gum, displays a certain arrogance.

[PostOnLine]

Will this be the same dynamic as that of the Catholic church? A few get removed, punished, the media has a field week or two and then it is all forgotten? No, not this time!

Here is the play sports fans. All of us who root for the little children of America will finally put a stop to this horrific and evil act. An act which destroys the hearts and souls of too many children. As we all see that old stereotype of the child sexual abuser has been broken. Focus Adolescent Services has been telling us for decades that it can be a doctor, lawyer, or a four-star general. Focusas.com has been telling us that 50% of the abused children are abused by a member of their own family; one in four girls in our great country have been sexually abused-as we see boys may never say. Support Focus Adolescent Services, they work to save our children.Support that dedicated team. If they get only 1% of what many spend to support their home team we can put a stop to this and save innocent little children. Sadly, we spend more on our coffee and beer than on saving these kids. Hells Bells, the value of the cans is more than we give to put an end to this evil.

[gilly2945]

So, "his father says, he's a tough kid", eh? First of all; he is no kid, and he was 28 yrs old when he witnessed this molestation scene, again, not a kid. He physically walked away from a child who needed his help, he did not intervene. He ran to his daddy. And here, his "daddy" speaks again for this cowardly guy who I am sure (from his actions, do speak louder than words, was thinking more of his career than his moral responsibility to this child. As for you, "Dad", what kind of integrity did u teach this "kid"? Or was his career path so important, you negated to give him a moral compass that could steer him to do the "right thing? This "kid" and his "Dad" are disgusting. I am sure he will get immunity, but I hope he never coaches anywhere, again in this lifetime and the next.

[sunpeep]

Well said! Gilly2945 you are a decent person with strong morals. You wrote what all of us were thinking.

[canislupus16]

Just saw your post after I posted. Nice work, gilly, keep hammering home the fact that McQueary was no simple little "grad student" or "grad assistant" in 2002. He was 28 and his graduate assistantship was as an Assistant Coach of the Penn State University football program.

[Nettielee1]

Maybe McQueary was already aware of this kind of behavior on the part of Sandusky. I think he, Paterno and others already knew, and I think he went to Paterno because he was already aware of earlier incidents that were being swept under the rug. I also believe McQueary was offered a coaching job in exchange for his continued silence.

[random_radar]

The obvious lesson to learn is that speaking up at all is career suicide. But most people already know that.