BELLEFONTE -- The civil trial for former Penn state football coach Mike McQueary is underway in Centre County.
McQueary is suing the university for firing him in 2012. Prosecutors say he was wrongly terminated over his testimony which helped convict Jerry Sandusky on child sex charges in 2012.
McQueary went to Joe Paterno to report seeing Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the team's locker room shower.
The former coach also says he was defamed by the university.
In their opening statements, McQueary’s lawyers told the jury they plan to prove Penn State University fired the former football coach because he cooperated with prosecutors in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.
Penn State's defense team disagrees and says McQueary was let go when his contract was up because the new football coach didn't want him on staff.
Back in 2012, McQueary testified against Sandusky. He was the only person to come forward during the trial and admit he saw Sandusky abusing a child.
Penn State’s defense team says harm to McQueary was a result of his own failure to act when he did not contact law enforcement and left a young boy in the shower with Sandusky. McQueary’s lawyers said their client did report the abuse to then head football coach Joe Paterno.
The university’s defense team said: “Mike McQueary can't hold PSU (accountable) for his failures to obtain a job."
They continued by saying any harm McQueary faced was not resolved because of his own actions.
McQueary wants Penn State to pay him $4 million in damages. That's money he would have earned at Penn State if he continued as a football coach for the next 25 years.
The lawsuit trial is expected to last three weeks.
McQueary is one of five former Penn State coaches who have filed lawsuits against the university.
A federal judge dismissed a suit filed by Joe Paterno's son Jay and former assistant coach Bill Kenney. Another suit filed in state court by former coaches Dick Anderson and Galen Hall is still pending. They were all let go after Joe Paterno was fired.
The coaches believe Penn State owes them wages.
Only Bill Kenney is still an active football coach.