It’s the report that cannot be discussed in any detail. Yet, a secret investigation centered on Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin is at the heart of the lawsuit brought by Penn State’s fired football doctor and dismissed director of athletic medicine, Dr. Scott Lynch.

The confidential report was penned by Robert Boland, then Penn State Athletics’ Integrity Officer under the Office of Ethics & Compliance. The position was createdin the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal to provide neutral investigatory expertise; assist with policy development, as well as education and implementation of best-practice standards across Penn State sports.

Lynch said he filed a complaint with Boland after he was dismissed from his dual medical roles with the team in March 2019. Lynch’s complaints stem from pressure he said was applied by Franklin to have the team’s doctors and trainers alter their player treatment plans and medical decisions to speed the injured athletes back to the practice and playing fields.

Boland has since left the university. He would not comment when previously contacted by PennLive.

In pretrial rulings by Dauphin County Court Judge Andrew Dowling, the Boland report has been declared a “privileged” work product that was undertaken at the direction of Penn State University’s attorneys. Not only are the details of the report off limits from being discussed during the ongoing trial, Boland was banned from testifying about it.

UPDATE: Late Wednesday, about 2 1/2 hours’ worth of Boland’s sworn deposition in the Lynch case was read into the record before the jury. The material included long question-and-answer sessions with attorneys on both sides of the case. In many of the exchanges, the lawyerly Boland parsed questions and often dodged direct answers. His integrity office report on his investigation into Franklin’s alleged interference with medical treatment of football players was referred to as a “draft that was never finalized.” However, a copy of the report and its findings went all the way up to the then-president of Penn State University. Once again in the carefully redacted deposition excerpts read at the trial, no details of Boland’s findings on Franklin were revealed.

Beyond that, mentions of the report and Boland’s investigation into allegations of medical meddling by Franklin have surfaced repeatedly during the trial.

Each time word of the Boland report or his investigation comes up, defense attorneys jump up to object. In fact, Penn State University has its own attorney present in court specifically to protect its interests in keeping the Boland report secret. His name is James S. Urban. The university is not a defendant in the trial, but Urban said the university was granted standing to intervene in the case to protect the privileged Boland report.

Despite all this, nuggets of information have surfaced about the report and investigation.

Dr. Pete Seidenberg, who served as a primary care team physician during Franklin’s early years as head coach, testified Tuesday, backing up many of Lynch’s claims about medical meddling by Franklin and other coaches. Seidenberg testified he was one of those interviewed by Boland during his investigation, adding that he relayed specific instances of Franklin’s actions to interfere in player treatments and medical decisions to Boland.

Seidenberg indicated he was in repeated touch with Boland throughout the investigation and the writing of Boland’s draft report. The doctor called the probe “thorough and complete.”

Jay Paterno, son of former Nittany Lions’ coach Joe Paterno and a longtime assistant coach, also referenced the Boland report from the witness stand on Wednesday.

As a member of Penn State’s board of trustees since 2017, Paterno testified he and the board were briefed on the Boland report by a trustees’ attorney who provided them with regular updates on all legal matters involving the university.

Paterno was stopped by defense objections from detailing the legal briefing on the Boland report. But he indicated the level of detail given was not specific enough to prompt him or any other trustee to refer the matter to the NCAA.

Lynch’s attorney, Steven F. Marino, suggested in court the trustees didn’t receive a detailed enough briefing, suggesting they were purposely kept in the dark.

“Nobody told you,” Marino said.

Paterno said he wouldn’t have hesitated to refer the matter to the NCAA if he had “sufficient facts.” But he said he was “not familiar with material facts of Dr. Lynch’s complaints.”

There were never any NCAA investigations or violations based on Lynch’s allegations.

The Boland report came up again when the former VP of human resources for Penn State Health was on the stand. Jane Mannon, since retired, testified she received a retaliation complaint from Lynch after he was informed by his immediate supervisor there, Dr. Kevin Black, that he was being removed from his dual roles with Penn State Athletics in March of 2019.

Mannon had a private meeting with Lynch about his complaint. During the meeting, Lynch cited numerous examples of being pressured by Franklin to alter his medical decisions and treatment plans for injured football players.

In wake of this, Mannon said she immediately contacted the health company’s lawyers. Her human resources investigation then became a joint probe with Boland, who was investigating the allegations against Franklin.

Under sometimes testy questioning by Marino, Mannon said this was the first time an HR probe was conducted this way. She added that she wrote a report on her investigation but indicated it was never made available to Lynch or his attorneys because it was folded into the now-secret Boland report.

“Coach Franklin’s name’s involved, you get a new protocol,” Marino said. “Coach Franklin’s involved; new rules!”

Answered Mannon: “I have never had to because the situation had never occurred. It was a different situation. The specifics of the investigation required we do it this way. The claims that Dr. Lynch was making… there were other claims he had that were outside of my purview.”

Another witness who referenced the Boland investigation was former star defensive tackle Rob Windsor, a member of the Lions’ from 2015-19, then drafted by the Indianapolis Colts.

Windsor detailed his difficulty receiving medical attention after Andy Mutnan replaced Tim Bream as Penn State’s head athletic trainer during the player’s final season of eligibility.

Windsor testified that Mutnan ignored his requests to consult with Lynch about his injured knee that season. Instead, Mutnan told Windsor to come in for continued treatments in the training room to work through the injury.

At one point in the days before a game, Windsor said he texted Dr. Lynch about his knee, going around Mutnan. This action resulted in a rare Friday night meeting among Windsor, Mutnan and Lynch as the football team was hunkered down at the Penn Stater Hotel on the eve of a home game.

At the meeting, Windsor said Lynch “set the record straight,” telling Mutnan: “If my players are injured and they want to see me, allow them to see me.” Windsor described Mutnan as displaying a “sour demeanor” at being chastised by Lynch.

“I felt like Andy Mutnan only cared about getting us on the field as quickly as possible and not letting us fully heal from out injuries,” Windsor testified.

The player also confirmed what had been earlier referred to as Coach Franklin’s “no-spatting” policy, designed to protect the Nike logo on players’ shoes from being covered up by ankle tapings. In 2005, Penn State Athletics inked an exclusive marketing and equipment deal with Nike that at the time was valued at more than $1 million and has been renewed and increased in the decades since.

“Ankles weren’t allowed to be spatted,” Windsor testified of the supportive taping practice. “We weren’t allowed to cover up the Nike logo on the cleat.”

“Whose orders were those?” Marino asked.

“Coach Franklin’s,” Windsor answered.

The player indicated he was later interviewed by Boland about these experiences as part of the investigation triggered by Lynch’s complaints following his dismissal. Windsor added that he knew of at least one other player interviewed by Boland on these subjects.

Lynch was fired from his dual roles as Penn State’ director of athletic medicine and orthopedic consultant to the football team on March 1, 2019, leading to his lawsuit.

The suit alleges Lynch had repeated clashes with Franklin, who took over in 2014. Lynch claims he was terminated from his dual roles because he refused to “allow a coach to interfere with his medical treatment and return to play decisions.”

Lynch says he reported Franklin’s interference to Penn State Athletics and Penn State Health, including his immediate supervisor there, Dr. Kevin Black, who’s also being sued by Lynch. He is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in the case.

The defense asserts there’s no evidence Lynch ever altered his medical treatment of players under pressure from Franklin — or anyone else.

Franklin and Penn State Athletics were dropped from the lawsuit over a filing technicality.

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