Joe Paterno's Salary Made Public

So after 5 years, the Harrisburg Patriot-News won it's battle to make the salaries of Joe Paterno and 2 other PSU employees public (how much did that cost the State of PA in litigation?). It didn't matter to them that none of the PA taxpayer money actually pays Joe and the others. In my opinion, it was just a witch hunt. Well the hunt is over and Jan Murphy and David Jones now look like two complete morons.

Jan and Dave have egg on their faces!

Joe's salary will wind up being a whopping $512K at the end of 2007. I'm not saying $512K is something to sneeze at - hell, we'd all like to make that (note: he also pulls in a boat load of bucks from speaking engagements and endorsements, but none of that money comes out of the taxpayer's wallets and does not contribute towards his state funded retirement pension)!However, when you compare Joe to his peers - many of whom have not been with a head coach for 42 years, many of whom do not have the winning percentage Joe does (.743, 12th among active coaches), Joe is grossly underpaid. And he doesn't care. Hell, even Al Golden - head coach of Temple...TEMPLE...who's record in 2 years is 5-19 for a winning percentage of .208 makes $300K. Shoot, I might be able to suit up and coach that team to a more winning record for that money. For a list of what all of the active coaches are making, click here: http://coacheshotseat.com/WinningestActiveCoachesIA.htm.

For those of you in NJ, let me remind you that Schiano is making around a cool $1Mil AND had a house built for him on Rutgers property (incidentally he sold his house in Bridgewater earlier this year for over $900K. I bet he'll roll that over into a phat house at the Jersey Shore in no time). If you think that's all privately funded, you are wrong. Schiano is the highest paid state employee and what did that get you this year for that money? An 8-4 record - same as PSU's - and an invite to the Independence Bowl. What the hell is the Independence Bowl? I won't cut him up too badly though. Rumors are swelling that since the addition to the RU stadium is delayed (University officials and NJ Legislators are saying that they'll find a way to get the $30 Mil - $100 Mil to fund it, so you may be saying hi to an increase in taxes for an over-rated football program), Schiano could be more open to other offers. He was an assistant under JoePa in the '80's. Joe's contract runs out in 2008. Connect the dots, folks. It's not out of the realm of possibility....

But I digress....this post is not about the evils of NJ taxes or RU football. I can talk about those topics some other time.

I will not glorify Jan Murphy and David Jones by providing a link to their story. In it they still try to demonize Joe by talking about the money he pulls from speaking engagements and endorsements. You have to realize that none of that income contributes towards his state funded retirement pension)! No where in the article does it talk about Joe and Sue Paterno's various donations to Penn State (which indirectly benefit the tax payers of PA since they don't have to worry about funding these initiatives). Instead, let me direct you to an article found on the Allentown Morning Call's site: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5paterno.6150358nov22,0,4786459.story?page=1.

It gives a lot of info about Joe and his program, but more importantly outlines the generosity of Joe and Sue Paterno over the years:

1. Joe and Sue have donated $4Mil to PSU over the years.

2. Raised an additional $1Billion (yes BILLION) for the university (when Joe shows up, the check books open up)!

3. Additionally, in 1998, they gave $3.5Mil to endow faculty positions, scholarships and to support 2 building projects.

4. Again, in 1998, they gave $250K more to double the size of the of the campus .library (how many college football coaches have their name on a LIBRARY?).

5. Joe also kicked in to help get the Bryce Jordan Center built on campus (home to PSU basketball).

6. Joe committed another $250K to build the Penn State All-Sports museum.

Joe hasn't always made $512K, so these donations should be viewed as even more generous. Joe has had offers to jump ship to the NFL (an offer of over $1MM to go to the Patriots back in the '80s), yet he has always chosen to stay at Penn State and help develop the PSU players into more than just athletes. We can all debate whether or not "Joe should go" given the current mediocrity of the program, but no one can debate what this man has done for The Pennsylvania State University or the State of Pennsylvania. Go Joe.