Count Urban Meyer and Ohio State as two pillars who stand behind current defensive coordinator and safeties coach Greg Schiano.
Speaking to Dave Briggs of the Toledo Blade after participating in the Marathon Classic Buckeye Broadband Pro-Am at Highland Meadows Golf Club Wednesday, Ohio State's head football coach said he believes Schiano's statement that he never witnessed former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky sexually abuse a boy while working in State College.
"I first heard about it several months ago and we had a long talk,” Meyer told Briggs. ”I've known Greg for 20-some years. I have as much respect for Greg Schiano as I do any person — not just any coach, any person. We had the chat and he told me everything that happened. He stands by his statement and we stand by his statement."
Schiano's named appeared in unsealed court documents Tuesday from former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary's testimony that Schiano saw Sandusky have inappropriate contact with a child while an assistant with the Nittany Lions from 1991-95. Schiano denied seeing it through a statement on his Twitter account.
In response to media reports from earlier today:
— Greg Schiano (@OSUCoachSchiano) July 12, 2016
I never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse, during my time at Penn State.
According to McQueary, former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley spoke of an assistant in the early '90s and another in the early '80s who witnessed Sandusky's behavior. When asked, McQueary stated the assistant Bradley mentioned from the '90s was Schiano.
Bradley, now UCLA's defensive coordinator, also denied McQueary's claim.
Meyer, who hired Schiano to replace Chris Ash in January, firmly stood by the defensive coordinator Wednesday.
"There's no issue as far as I am concerned," Meyer told The Blade.
