Paterno underpaid?

I know it sounds weird to say that a guy making nearly half a million bucks a year is underpaid, but Joe Paterno is underpaid.

Consider some of the coaches who make more, some a lot more, and JoePa is a bargain.

The highest-paid college is Alabama's Nick Saban at about $4 million a year. If you recall, Saban is a job-hopper who hasn't stayed at one place long enough to have any lasting impact.

JoePa has been at Penn State since the earth cooled and his impact -- on and off the field -- cannot be matched. His players graduate and his overall record of achievement on the field is nearly unsurpassed. And if you throw in the fact that over the years, he's donated and raised millions of dollars for the university, it's hard to measure in dollars his influence. Name another major college football coach who has a library named after him.

Of course, you could look at the amount of money Paterno is paid and compare it with run-of-the-mill professors and comment about how our values are skewed and that football seems to be the tail that wags the dog at a lot of large universities.

Now, we know why the university fought to keep his salary secret. They're embarrassed. I mean, look at the list of Big 10 coaches and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz leads the pack at $2.84 million.

How many national championships and undefeated seasons does he have?

A little hint: It's the same as the number of libraries Ferentz has named after him.