A source close to the Penn State football program informed me today that interim Penn State head football coach Tom Bradley has reached out to the head coach of an NFL team to inquire about future employment.
(October, 2008: Bradley met with Sandusky “every morning”)
In the aftermath of Joe Paterno’s ouster earlier this week, Bradley was subsequently named caretaker of the disgraced football program. Since that change, the source indicated Bradley has personally contacted Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell about attaining a job in the future.
Thought with Bradley colleague Jerry Sandusky being charged with 40 counts of child sexual abuse last week, concern has been raised that Bradley may have known about Sandusky abuse that included the anal rape of a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State locker room in 2002.
Sandusky spent 32 years on the Penn State coaching staff, and worked closely with Bradley in that capacity for over two decades. On October 9, 2008, the LOCKHAVEN (PA) EXPRESS noted that the Bradley and Sandusky remained close:
They meet up around 6:30 a.m. every morning.
The first person, considered the greatest mastermind of defensive football the college game has ever seen, hops on the exercise bike and begins to grind the pedals around in a circle.
The second person, who occupies a stair master next to the bike, is hoping that his defense carries that always-coveted national crown back to a valley that cries, dreams and bleeds the game.
That’s when Jerry Sandusky and Tom Bradley begin to talk football.
Just imagine if those pieces of exercise equipment had ears to absorb the knowledge and expertise each one brings to the table.
“I think the biggest thing he’s afraid of is that he’s going to be too far on the field,” said Bradley, who serves as defensive coordinator at Penn State. “He still loves the game of football, and he still loves to win. The one thing about Jerry Sandusky is that he’s so committed to what he does. He loves coaching, and he really enjoys working with the kids.”
‘The Second Mile’ charity organization Sandusky founded in 1977 reported this week that, “in November 2008, Mr. Sandusky informed The Second Mile that he had learned he was being investigated as a result of allegations made against him by an adolescent male in Clinton County, PA.”
The 2008 Lockhaven Express article chronicling Bradley and Sandusky’s ongoing, daily relationship was dated Oct. 9, 2008. The “adolescent male in Clinton County, PA” referred to in the statement by The Second Mile attended the high school where the 2008 Express story reported Sandusky to be coaching - and having a positive impact on the students.
Sara Ganim of the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS also reported this week that the investigation that ultimately led to Sandusky being arrested last Friday began in 2008.
Earlier this week Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports reported that until the day he was arrested for 40 crimes related to child rape Sandusky was still a fixture at the same Penn State football facility where he raped a 10-year-old boy in front of current Penn State employee Mike McQueary in 2002:
Embattled former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky continued to be a presence around the Penn State football program up to his arrest Saturday on child molestation charges, including working out multiple times in the team’s weight room just last week, according to multiple sources within the football program.
The sources, who asked to remain unnamed due to the nature of the scandal, said they saw Sandusky working out in the Lasch Football Building last week.
Another indication that Sandusky was close to the program even after current football staff member McQueary and Paterno knew of his child rape in 2002 was, as noted by the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, his presence at multiple Penn State football practices - while accompanied by one of his rape victims - in 2007.
I’ve been given no indication that Caldwell - or the Colts for that matter - are considering Bradley for a job with their organization in the future.
But based on the now-confirmed close relationship Sandusky maintained with Bradley and the Penn State football program years after key members of the school’s football staff uncovered Sandusky’s abuse of children can’t help but bring any individual or organization pause when evaluating Bradley’s fitness for a job.
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