STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State placed assistant coach Mike McQueary on indefinite administrative leave, capping a tumultuous week in which his name surfaced as a key witness in a grand jury investigation into child sexual-abuse allegations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
School president Rod Erickson notified McQueary of the decision Friday, a day after the school said the receivers coach would not be present today when the Nittany Lions play Nebraska because he has received threats.
The school did not provide details on precisely who threatened McQueary, who testified he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy in the shower in 2002.
Asked if McQueary would be fired, Erickson said, “There are complexities to that issue that I am not prepared to go into at this point.”
The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported McQueary told players by phone he was in a secluded location outside State College.
Erickson, in his first news conference since replacing Graham Spanier, who, like coach Joe Paterno, was fired Wednesday night, said he plans to appoint an ethics officer, and said the school will review all standards, policies and programs to ensure they meet “not only the law, but Penn State’s standard.”
Paterno’s son, Scott, meanwhile, released a statement saying his father had hired Wick Sollers, a high-profile criminal attorney.
Also, police said a vandal might have smashed a ground-floor window Thursday night at Sandusky’s home. The window was covered Friday with what looked like a white tarp.
