Paterno salary well behind highest-paid coaches

UNIVERSITY PARK - Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has said all along that his salary would be a surprise.

The State Employees' Retirement System on Thursday said Paterno earned $427,220 through Oct. 31, putting him on pace to earn $512,000 for the year. His 2006 salary was $490,638.

The retirement system released Paterno's salary information, along with that of two other Penn State administrators, in keeping with a state Supreme Court ruling last week. The Harrisburg Patriot-News requested this information in 2002, on the basis that Paterno and other employees participate in a taxpayer-supported retirement system.

During an interview earlier in the day, Paterno told reporters the numbers would not accurately reflect his income. Paterno is to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

"I make more money than that's going to come out, in different ways," Paterno said. "I'm paid well. I'm not overpaid. I've got all the money I need."

Paterno reminded reporters he has "not taken a vow of poverty."

Paterno's other sources of income include apparel contracts, endorsements and fees for weekly appearances during football season on a call-in show.

The 80-year-old coach ranks second among major-college coaches with 371 victories, but his compensation is dwarfed by many. Alabama's Nick Saban, with a reported $4 million annual salary, is the top-paid college head coach. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, with a reported $2.84 million, is the highest-paid among Big Ten Conference coaches.

Paterno, in his 42nd season as head coach at Penn State, has a relatively modest lifestyle, including living in the same ranch-style house near campus that he bought early in his career.

Over the years, he and his family are credited with contributing more than $4 million to Penn State.

Paterno expressed irritation over the battle to make his salary public.

"It bothers me to think that people have to know what I make," he said. "What difference does it make what I make• I don't know what you guys make."

Paterno said he earned $20,000 during his first season as head coach in 1966.

Paterno indicated he intends to coach beyond 2008, the final season of his contract.

"I'm not going to coach for 15 years or 10 years," he said. "Maybe three, four, five years, depending on how the good Lord keeps me healthy and I feel like I'm making a contribution."

Paterno only seemed to be partly kidding when he said of concluding his coaching career: "I think the perfect ending is you drop dead at the end of the game after you kick the winning field goal. They carry you off the field, and everybody is singing 'So long, Joe. You've been wonderful.'"