Protests Erupt As University Looks To Hire Coach Connected To Sandusky Abuse Case

Students, parents and politicians were dismayed on Sunday at reports that the University of Tennessee may hire a coach accused of witnessing former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky abusing a child.

Several outlets, including ESPN, reported Sunday that the university was in talks to bring on Greg Schiano as its head football coach, sparking widespread outrage among the Tennessee Volunteers fanbase. Schiano peers accused him of witnessing Jerry Sandusky molestation of minors at Penn State University, based on court documents released last year. Schiano was an assistant coach at the school when he allegedly saw Sandusky acting inappropriately with a boy in the showers. And now many parents, students, and social media users have accused Schiano of covering up the incident.

Former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary testified that Schiano was aware of the molestation, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post in 2016. McQueary told the courts that another assistant coach, Tom Bradley, identified Schiano as a witness to Sandusky’s molestation. 

“No, only that he had — I can’t remember if it was one night or one morning — but that Greg had come into [Bradley’s] office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower,” McQueary testified. 

Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of molesting 10 boys over the course of 15 years. 

Schiano has denied the allegations that he had knowledge of Sandusky’s crimes. The coach has worked at Rutgers University, Ohio State University, and in the National Football League in the years since leaving Penn State. The University of Tennessee athletics department did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. 

Tennessee Volunteers fans took to social media, expressing anger about the potential hire and students assembled on campus with signs to protest.