NCAA Football

Joe Paterno Secured A Pay Raise After Hearing About The Sandusky Investigation

Joe Paterno’s hallowed image has completely crumbled, and now it’s only getting worse. A report from the New York Times indicates that Paterno attempted to secure a better financial package after the Sandusky investigation news came across his desk. And, because Penn State leaders allowed Paterno and his swaggering machismo to walk all over them, he got everything he wanted.

Here’s more, via the NYT:

“That same month, Mr. Paterno, the football coach at Penn State, began negotiating with his superiors to amend his contract, with the timing something of a surprise because the contract was not set to expire until the end of 2012, according to university documents and people with knowledge of the discussions. By August, Mr. Paterno and the university’s president, both of whom were by then embroiled in the Sandusky investigation, had reached an agreement.

Mr. Paterno was to be paid $3 million at the end of the 2011 season if he agreed it would be his last. Interest-free loans totaling $350,000 that the university had made to Mr. Paterno over the years would be forgiven as part of the retirement package. He would also have the use of the university’s private plane and a luxury box at Beaver Stadium for him and his family to use over the next 25 years.

Oh, but it gets better. The board of trustees, who was kept in the dark about such contract amendments until November, rolled over as well.

“Board members who raised questions about whether the university ought to go forward with the payments were quickly shut down, according to two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

In the end, the board of trustees — bombarded with hate mail and threatened with a defamation lawsuit by Mr. Paterno’s family — gave the family virtually everything it wanted, with a package worth roughly $5.5 million. Documents show that the board even tossed in some extras that the family demanded, like the use of specialized hydrotherapy massage equipment for Mr. Paterno’s wife at the university’s Lasch Building, where Mr. Sandusky had molested a number of his victims.”

The real interesting nugget comes from Paterno’s initial statement to the media in late 2011, when he so generously offered to step down so the board could focus on the pending Sandusky disaster. Except, as we now know, this was a load of bullshit – Paterno was, once again, saving face by pretending to put the University ahead of himself, when in fact this negotiated deal was already in place. So all he did was accelerate the timeline for his eventual pay day.

Wait! There’s more!

“Others worried about the hostility they would face if they tried to strip Mr. Paterno, still beloved in many quarters of the campus, of money that he was contractually owed — a prospect that grew even more worrisome after he died on Jan. 22 this year. During a conference call, one board member worried aloud that failure to make good on what was owed to the Paterno estate could lead to another “reign of terror” by Mr. Paterno’s supporters, according to a person who was on the call.

With rumblings that the Paterno family was thinking of suing the board of trustees for defamation, the board dispatched its lawyer to negotiate the final payments. All the board wanted in return was a release protecting the university from such a lawsuit.”

That’s right – even the board of trustees covered their own asses too, refusing to go after Paterno’s obscene retirement benefits, because, well, they were afraid.

It’s really unbelievable how so many moral compasses could go haywire over an ailing old man. But, at this point, it’s really no surprise.

[New York Times]

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