Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary began his legal battle against his former employer today in Bellefonte. McQueary, a key witness in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal, says he was never able to develop a network of contacts to find other work after being removed from the Penn State coaching staff amid the fallout of the Sandusky scandal fallout.
McQueary believes a narrative about him was built following Penn State’s decision to place him on paid administrative leave once the details of a grand jury presentment regarding Sandusky was revealed. McQueary was later fired and he claims was then ostracized in the coaching community and by friends and family. McQueary is seeking $8 million in compensatory and punitive damages from the university.
The focus of the case will bring the story back to the moment McQueasry witnessed Sandusky and a boy in the showers of a Penn State facility. McQueary reported the incident to former rPenn State coach Joe Paterno, who then relayed the info to former Athletics Director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz. McQueary did not inform authorities of the incident because he trusted it would be handled appropriately, he claims.
Penn State has held off on dealing with this particular legal battle as long as it could in order to allow other legal processes play out related to the Sandusky scandal. Spanier, Curley and Schultz are scheduled to begin their criminal trials January 2, 2017.