Penn State head football coach James Franklin came under heavy scrutiny during the testimony of Dr. Pete Seidenberg at the lawsuit trial of Dr. Scott Lynch, according to John Luciew of PennLive. Seidenberg reportedly said on Tuesday that Franklin tried to take away the scholarship of a suicidal player and attempted to interfere with other work of the team doctors.

Lynch is suing Penn State Health’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Dr. Kevin Black, his former supervisor, for wrongful termination in his 2019 firing. Lynch said his firing was retaliation for pushing back against Franklin’s demands as head coach. He is not suing Franklin nor Penn State Athletics, who were dismissed as defendants after the statute of limitations expired in 2020.

In his testimony, according to PennLive, Seidenberg said Franklin and then-Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour attempted to have a student-athlete who attempted to kill themself by throwing themself out a window medically disqualified from the team. This meant the player would have lost their scholarship. However, Seidenberg said Franklin was “stopped.”

According to PennLive, Seidenberg said that in conversations he had with Franklin, he perceived the coach was trying to influence medical decisions and that Franklin became upset when a starting player wasn’t cleared for a game.

Seidenberg also said, according to PennLive, that Penn State’s program created pressure for students to get out of the baby blue jerseys that designated them as injured during practice. Franklin also wanted players to play hurt and Penn State’s environment encouraged student-athletes to hide their injuries.