Even Joe Paterno's salary is old school
By Adam Abramson
So, my colleague who knows people all around State College was right.
JoePa's reported salary is $512,664, $12,664 off the mark of the Penn State fanatic that humors me with college football talk every day.
He tried to tell me that JoePa is a simple man and that an outlandish salary is just not his style. I say that's pretty neat considering what other coaches make. I know Beamer re-upped my last year covering the team for a cool $2 mil a year.
In fact, here's a list for you:
If I'm not mistaken, 28 of the top 30 are public schools (excluding Joe Paterno's $2 million that's misreported). In a day of big contracts in the big business of college football, Joe Paterno makes less than about 70% of college coaches, many of whom under perform constantly. Old school.
“I’m paid well, I’m not overpaid,” Paterno said “I got all the money I need.”
He's the man.
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Comments (4)
PSU Pres. Graham Spanier inadvertently hinted that it could be this low when Urban Meyer went to Florida. He said at the time that when JoePa hangs it up, PSU will not be in a race for coaches making what some were garnering at the time.
Which doesnt make sense. PSU tix on avg cost 45 per seat. That's not including the multi-thousand dollar "donation" that's required for season tickets, luxury box sales, parking tags, etc. PSU is going to penny pinch the next coach to come in, likely Tom Bradley. God forbid they have to go outside the program, it's gonna be laughable when they go hunting.
I doubt at the end of the day that JoePa's check is that small. There's talk in Pa. that it gets up to more typical levels when you include sponsorships, appearances, uniform deals.
don't fool yourself, paterno is making mad bank. he probably keeps his salary low for tax purposes and gets more loot in other ways from that school.
Dr., your "don't fool yourself" assertions make little sense. By making more than $500,000, Coach Paterno is already in the highest tax bracket. Any other income he receives from the university would be taxed accordingly. The only missing piece here is the money Coach Paterno might receive from outside interests — i.e.: Nike, Pepsi and the program's other sponsors; the money he is paid to appear on his Thursday night radio show; and any coaching clinics he runs or books he writes. But, those revenue streams are irrelevant to this story, which arose when the Harrisburg Patriot-News requested that Coach Paterno's university salary be made public, since it (and the related state retirement package) come from an institution partially funded by Pennsylvania taxpayers.
Even I thought that Joe probably was about the highest paid college football coach out there.
So it is kind of humorous that almost everyone was way off the mark here with Joe's very modest salary of just over $500,000.
Equally, it is kind of interesting to hear the 'silence' from his coaching peers out there in college football land.
I think this is one JoePa story that the other coaches just want to let fade away in to the sunset without any comment, one way or the other.