Mike McQueary out for PSU’s game against Nebraska Saturday

Mike McQueary, the assistant football coach for Penn State University who testified to seeing former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky rape a young boy, will not be coaching his team during this Saturday’s game.

McQueary told a grand jury that he witnessed the sexual abuse of the child in a PSU locker room shower in 2002, but fled the scene without attempting to stop it. McQueary did say that he told head coach Joe Paterno, who was fired this week after it was revealed that he, along with several other Penn State administrators, never notified police about the abuse either.

The Penn State Athletic Department issued this statement Thursday night:

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.

McQueary has been at the center of widespread criticism both for admitted failure to step in and stop the abuse while it was occurring, and for being permitted to keep his job after others who had similarly failed were fired. McQueary has not spoken publicly and his mother said Thursday that they had been advised not to, according to ESPN.

Coach Tom Bradley will replace Joe Paterno on an interim basis through the rest of the season.