Josh Newman

@Joshua_Newman

A Philadelphia judge unsealed deposition testimony Tuesday suggesting former Penn State assistant coaches Tom Bradley and Greg Schiano knew of Jerry Sandusky's abuse of children nearly two decades before the allegations became public.

Bradley and Schiano, the latter of whom later led Rutgers football, issued statements denying the charge.

Former Nittany Lions assistant Mike McQueary, a key witness who claimed to have seen Sandusky molesting a boy in the football team’s shower in 2001, testified that he told Bradley, now the defensive coordinator at UCLA, what he had seen and that Bradley was not shocked.

According to McQueary's 2015 deposition, Bradley told him another assistant had come to him in the early 1990s with a similar account involving Sandusky.

McQueary said Bradley told him the assistant was Schiano, who coached under longtime Penn State head coach Joe Paterno from 1990-95 and was later the architect of Rutgers' resurgence from 2001-11.

The testimony from McQueary stems from a legal dispute between Penn State University and an insurer over settlements paid to victims in the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Sandusky, a former top assistant coach under Paterno, is appealing his conviction on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. He is serving a sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison. The university is appealing a judge's order denying it insurance coverage for certain settlement payments to Sandusky's victims and their families. Penn State has made $92 million in total payouts to settle 32 civil claims brought by victims, according to the Associated Press.

The unsealed documents also included testimony suggesting that Paterno was aware of Sandusky's conduct as far back as 1976 — after an allegation surfaced that Sandusky had abused a boy in a shower. Paterno, who died in 2012, had claimed he didn't learn of the abuse until 2001.

One of the "John Doe" victims testified in a deposition that he told Paterno of the abuse but was rebuffed.

"Is it accurate that Coach Paterno quickly said to you, 'I don't want to hear about any of that kind of stuff, I have a football season to worry about?'" a lawyer for Penn State's insurance carrier, Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association Insurance, asked the man. "Specifically, yes," the man answered.

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In McQueary's desposition testimony, he was asked if Bradley had provided any other details about what Schiano had told him. McQueary replied, "No, only that he had — I can't remember if it was one night or one morning, but that Greg had come into his office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower. And that's it. That's all he ever told me."

Schiano could not be reached for comment, but denied any knowledge of the abuse on his @OSUCoachSchiano Twitter account: "In response to media reports from earlier today: I never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse, during my time at Penn State."

Bradley also denied knowledge of the abuse.

"At no time did Tom Bradley ever witness any inappropriate behavior," Bradley's agent, Brett Senior, said in a statement. "Nor did he have any knowledge of alleged incidents in the 80’s and 90’s. He has consistently testified as such. Any assertions to the contrary are false. When he became aware of the 2001 incident, it had already been reported to the University administration years earlier."

After leaving Rutgers, Schiano became head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is currently the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Ohio State.

On Nov. 9, 2011 — the day Paterno announced he would retire at the end of the 2011 season, but was instead fired that same night — Schiano was asked if he had any inkling of Sandusky's conduct during his time at Penn State.

"Because of the situation being what it is, I'm not even going to get into it,” Schiano replied. “I'm so far removed. Again, you don't need people making commentaries on things like this. It's just a sad thing."

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Staff writer Josh Newman: jnewman@gannettnj.com