Ex-Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary is suing the school. (Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

Former Penn State football assistant Mike McQueary, a key witness in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, has filed a $4 million whistleblower lawsuit against the university, Philly.com reports.

In filings in Centre County court, McQueary alleged the university defamed his name and treated him unfairly fired him for his cooperation with state prosecutors building a criminal case against Sandusky.

McQueary testified that he walked in on Sandusky molesting a boy in a locker room shower in 2002 and later reported what he had seen to administrators including head coach Joe Paterno. Paterno was later fired by the university’s board of trustees.

In his suit, McQueary said his treatment by the university had caused him “much distress, anxiety and embarrassment” since Sandusky’s arrest in November. His complaints include a statement former university president Graham B. Spanier released hours after the arrests pledging full support of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz.

Those statements, McQueary’s lawsuit alleges, “reinforced the perception that (McQueary) lied and committed perjury.”

McQueary was placed on administrative leave Nov. 13 and was the only assistant coach on Paterno’s former staff who was not interviewed for a position under new head coach Bill O’Brien.

A year before Mike McQueary saw Jerry Sandusky abusing a child in a Penn State locker room shower, two janitors witnessed similar events but failed to alert authorities.

In the Freeh Report, the independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, one janitor saw Sandusky sexually abusing a child in the fall of 2000, but decided against reporting the incident to proper authorities because he believed Penn State would “get rid of us all.”

Janitor B explained to the Special Investigative Counsel that reporting the incident “would have been like going against the President of the United States in my eyes.” “I know Paterno has so much power, if he wanted to get rid of someone, I would have been gone.” He explained “football runs this University,” and said the University would have closed ranked to protect the football program at all costs.

Janitor A witnessed the sexual abuse. A veteran of the Korean War, he said he had seen lots of things, but that he would never be able to forget what he saw in the shower.

Janitor B saw two pairs of feet in the same shower later that night, but did not see the upper bodies. Later he saw Sandusky and a young boy exit the locker room holding hands.

Later that evening, the two janitors saw Sandusky in the parking lot of the locker room looking into windows around 11 p.m. and again at 2 a.m. They presumed Sandusky had returned to see if authorities had been alerted.

Sandusky had been regularly observed showering with youths before this 2000 incident, according to the Freeh Report.

Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary is the key witness in the grand jury report that brought light to the child abuse scandal at Penn State University.  His reported witnessing of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in the showers on campus is the graphic detail that has entered the public consciousness from the grand jury report, and the question of whom he told and when has become central to the developing case.

In an extensive report on how the investigation into Sandusky developed, Jo Becker of the New York Times recounts the first time McQueary described the incident to the investigating officers, in 2010:

McQueary was explicit and unequivocal, the people said. He had told Paterno, the team’s longtime and widely beloved head coach, about the incident the following day, but he was filled with regret that nothing had happened.

“This had been weighing on him for a very long time, and our guys felt he was relieved to get it off his chest,” one law enforcement official said. “When he had the opportunity to make it right, he told the truth.”

More recently, McQueary has claimed that he intervened in the incident and called the police; the account in the Times does not reflect that.

In July, former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno transferred full ownership of his house in State College, PA. to his wife for $1 “plus love and affection,” according to The New York Times. The two have lived in the house together since 1969 when they purchased it for $58,000.

The transfer of the property, which is now listed at a value of over $500,000, was part of a long-term estate planning program, Paterno’s lawyer told The Times in an e-mail, and reportedly had nothing to do with the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State which ultimately cost the college football legend his job. However, in light of the recent Penn State child abuse scandal which could leave Paterno personally vulnerable to a civil lawsuit, some speculate the move may have been made to protect the estate in advance.

“I can’t see any tax advantages,” Lawrence A. Frolik, an elder law professor at the University of Pittsburgh told The Times. “If someone told me that, my reaction would be, ‘Are they hoping to shield assets in case if there’s personal liability?’ ”

“It sounds like an attempt to avoid personal liability in having assets in his wife’s name,” Frolik continued.

Analysts, however, told The Times that it would be hard to determine the motivation of the Paterno family from just the legal documents made available to the public. They also pointed to the fact that the Paterno’s have a long history of “complex and confusing transactions.”

Paterno was fired from Penn State last week after it was revealed that despite reporting his knowledge of the sexual abuse of young boys by former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky to school authorities; he never went to the police about the issues. Wide receivers coach Mike McQueary testified before a grand jury in December of 2010 that he had witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the shower at the locker room at the Lasch Football Building on campus. McQueary told the grand jury that he reported the incident to Paterno as well as other Penn State administrators.

Sandusky has been charged by a state grand jury with counts of deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of a child, and indecent assault. In a recent interview on NBC, Sandusky claimed that he is “innocent of these charges.”

Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary said in an email to former teammates that the “truth is not out there fully” regarding his involvement in the grand jury indictment of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, according to Peter Alexander of NBC News.

“I did the right thing…you guys know me…the truth is not out there fully…I didn’t just turn and run…I made sure it stopped…I had to make quick tough decisions,” McQueary said in the email, according to a series of tweets from Alexander.

In 2002, McQueary was the graduate assistant who reportedly saw former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy in the shower at the Penn State athletic facility.  McQueary told the grand jury that he reported the incident to former head coach Joe Paterno, who was fired late Wednesday night.

McQueary did not coach in Penn State’s game against Nebraska on Saturday and is reportedly in “protective custody.”

Thursday night, reports emerged that Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary — the key witness in the grand jury findings that brought to light a sexual abuse scandal surround former PSU assistant coach Jerry Sandusky — would not be on the sidelines for Saturday’s game in light of threats he had received.

Friday, school officials announced that McQueary had been placed on administrative leave.

According to a report from David Jones of The Patriot-News, though, McQueary was a bit more specific in a conference call with his former wide receivers:

During a brief and emotional conversation, McQueary told them, “I wanted to let you guys know I’m not your coach anymore. I’m done.”

When players asked, “Coach, where are you? Can we see you?” McQueary responded, “No, I’m actually in protective custody. I’m not in State College.”

According to a report from John Finger on CSNPhilly.com, Penn State president Rodney Erickson said that McQueary had not been fired because of “complexities to that issue I’m not prepared to go into.”

One of the more perplexing developments in the ongoing alleged sexual assault scandal surrounding Penn State football and the team’s former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, is that assistant coach Mike McQueary was scheduled to remain part of the coaching staff for the team’s game against Nebraska on Saturday.

In 2002, McQueary was the graduate assistant who allegedly witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy in the shower at the Penn State athletic facility; he claims to have reported the incident to former head coach Joe Paterno, who has been fired.  Athletic director Tim Curley has taken an administrative leave and has been charged with perjury for lying to the grand jury.  But McQueary was still scheduled to coach.

Now, according to a report tweeted by Sports By Brooks, that may no longer be the case.

“A source close to Penn St football indicated to me this afternoon it is now a virtual certainty McQueary will not coach Saturday,” Brooks tweeted. And, in a follow-up, “Source also said to expect an announcement to that effect as early as later today or tomorrow at the latest.”

If McQueary coaches at the game, it is unclear if he will be on the sidelines or in the coaches’ box.