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Paterno's pay is now public: $512,664

After a five-year court battle, the salary of Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno - one of sports' most guarded secrets - was released yesterday.

Joe Paterno: "It bothers me that people have to know what I make."
Joe Paterno: "It bothers me that people have to know what I make."Read moreBARBARA L. JOHNSTON / Inquirer Staff

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - After a five-year court battle, the salary of Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno - one of sports' most guarded secrets - was released yesterday.

According to the State Employees' Retirement System, Paterno will earn a base salary of $512,664 for this year. That number does not include compensation for television and apparel contracts or other miscellaneous sources of income.

While his base salary is nowhere near what the highest-paid college football coaches earn - Alabama's Nick Saban tops out at $4 million a year - Paterno's total income is likely comparable to those of the other big-name coaches of his stature.

"The figure isn't going to be the exact figure," Paterno said early yesterday during an interview with reporters about his induction Tuesday into the College Football Hall of Fame. "I make other money besides that." The coach did not offer a specific figure.

For many major-conference coaches, a low base salary is only a small portion of their total income. For example, according to a USA Today survey last year, Ohio State's Jim Tressel earned a base salary of $890,000 but received $1,122,700 from other sources for a total of $2,012,700. He also was eligible for a maximum bonus of $375,000.

"I'm not up here," Paterno said, raising his hand, "and I'm not down here. I make enough money."

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that Penn State - which had refused to make the salaries of Paterno and other school officials public - must provide the information based on the right-to-know law.

Five years ago, The Inquirer, along with other newspapers, sought to have the data released, citing the pension benefits Penn State employees receive from taxpayers and the $349 million in state aid the school receives from the state.

The university argued that Paterno's salary does not come from tax dollars and that a full disclosure would affect the morale of some employees. The court, however, agreed with the premise that the public's right to know was greater than that of personal security.

Paterno, who turns 81 next month, has been the head coach at Penn State for 42 years and was a Nittany Lions assistant for 15 years before that. His tenure is a major-college football record and his 371 career wins are only two behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden for the most among Football Bowl Subdivision coaches.

The USA Today survey listed Bowden's 2006 base pay as $352,200 and his total income as $1,691,900. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is listed at $3 million, and Florida's Urban Meyer and South Carolina's Steve Spurrier at more than $2 million each.

According to USA Today, Big Ten coaches, of whom Paterno is one, earned base salaries between $231,000 (at Purdue) and $2,800,000 (at Iowa).

When Paterno first got the head coaching job in 1966, he made $20,000. He said yesterday that he never received a raise until he turned down an offer to coach the New England Patriots in January 1973.

"I turned down a million-dollar deal and part-[ownership] of the club," Paterno said.

That same month, his contract with Penn State was negotiated.

Last year, Paterno was paid a base salary of $490,638, according to the retirement system. As of Oct. 31 of this year, he was paid $427,220. Penn State president Graham Spanier earned $545,000 last school year.

Bill Mahon, Penn State's vice president for university relations, said that Spanier had no comment.

According to the most recent federal filings, for the 2006-07 school year, Penn State made $44 million from football and spent $14.6 million on the sport, giving it a profit of nearly $30 million.

"All the money he's raised, without question, he's worth way more than his base salary," said Phil Grosz, editor of Blue and White Illustrated. "But that's only a small fraction of what he makes."

Paterno and his wife, Sue, have donated upward of $4 million to the university.

"It bothers me that people have to know what I make," Paterno said. "What difference does it make what I make, all right? I don't know what you [reporters] make."