He’s a cheap date. Err coach. Apparently he wasn’t joking when he said he doesn’t pay attention to the money he earns. Unlike some of the hot shot coaches around the country making multi-millions — the Sabans, Tressels, Stoops, Meyers of the world, Joe Pa is content just scraping by. The Patriot-News reports that Paterno’s making just over $500,000 in salary this year — $512,664 to be exact.

While that number seems small for a big-name coach, and it is, Paterno could be pulling more from sponsorship deals, and/or media work. Still, it isn’t exactly a whole lot. Recently the Pac-10 football coach salaries were revealed. At its base level, Joe Pa would be 9th in salary out of the 10 coaches. That’s pretty low. I’m guessing his assistants and coordinators, who also carry most of the actual coaching load, get paid a good amount. So in case you were wondering why Paterno hasn’t been fired, aside from his reputation and legacy at Penn St., it’s probably because he’s not costing them a whole lot anyway. I guess we’re bringing new meaning to the term “figurehead.”

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