If all true, then Joe was nowhere near the top twenty college coaches in the country for salary. In fact, he just edges out Pat Hill over at Fresno State by a dollar and the coach over at Navy by $75k. If you ask me...he was a “deal”.
One of the contibuting factors in Paterno’s longevity was his relatively low salary. BTW, his salary was literally a State-secret until a few years ago.
PSU would have to pay 2 to 3 times that salary to his replacement. Paterno knew that.