Photo credit: Gene Puskar/ AP Images

Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary was one of the key witnesses in the prosecution of Jerry Sandusky. He claims that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in the Penn State locker room in 2001, and that he reported it quickly to Joe Paterno and other university officials. After he was not retained in 2012 amid massive public scrutiny, he filed a defamation suit against the school. This afternoon, a jury ruled that Penn State did defame him after he came forward, and they awarded him $7.3 million.


McQueary’s initial suit was for $4 million as well as a rider meant to cover the potential income he could have made over 25 more years of working as an assistant coach. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that McQueary’s testimony cost him a great deal:

Now divorced at 42, jobless and living with his parents at their State College home, the 6-foot-5 former quarterback testified Friday that he has been unable to find work since Penn State placed him on paid leave, citing safety concerns in the days after Sandusky’s arrest, and later decided not to renew his contract.


The school claims that the decision not to retain McQueary was simply a football decision, but a judge will now soon rule on whether or not him losing his job was a retaliatory action by Penn State.