Records released Friday by the university show the 82-year-old Hall of Famer is Penn State's highest-paid employee, making more than $1.03 million last year.
That includes his base salary plus any bonuses, but does not include compensation from outside the university that top coaches typically collect. /*Joe Paterno*/'s compensation from other sources is not a public record.
The salary information for Paterno and 31 other Penn State employees were released in compliance with a Pennsylvania Right-to-Know law that took effect in January.
Paterno's salary was once one of college football's most closely-guarded secrets until his base salary of roughly $500,000 was made public two years ago as part of an open records request of state retirement data initiated by the Patriot News of Harrisburg.
Paterno signed a three-year contract extension in December. He'll start his record 44th year as head coach this fall.
He's also the university's longest-tenured employee, having started as an assistant in 1950 before moving up to head coach in 1966.
LSU's /*Les Miles*/ and Alabama's /*Nick Saban*/ are considered to be among the highest-paid coaches in the country. Saban's total compensation package called for him to make roughly $3.8 million this year, a figure that includes his base salary from the university plus compensation for personal services from other sources.
Miles last year signed an extension with LSU that guaranteed him $1,000 more than any coach in the Southeastern Conference.
Miles and Saban coach at public universities, while Penn State is considered a "state-related" institution, though not fully public since only about 9 percent of its funding comes from state appropriations.
Penn State said Paterno's compensation does not come from state appropriations or student tuition since he works for athletics, a self-supporting department funded largely through ticket sales.
It's unclear what coaches such as /*Pete Carroll*/ at Southern California and /*Charlie Weis*/ at Notre Dame are paid because they work at private schools that don't have to disclose salaries.
After Paterno, the second-highest compensation on the Penn State filing was $789,000 for Dr. /*Robert Harbaugh*/, chair of the neurosurgery department at Hershey Medical Center. His salary is also not funded by state or tuition dollars.
Men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis made more than $642,000.
Of other salaries released, five were for officers of the university and therefore paid mostly from public funding or tuition. That includes president /*Graham Spanier*/, who made $590,000.
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