Joe Paterno, the former Penn State football coach who was fired last week amid the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, may be in line for a pension of $500,000 a year after his decades-long career at the institution.
Paterno, 84, is credited with more than 60 years in the State Employee's Retirement System, the Associated Press reported after it obtained his public pension records Tuesday.
But the Retirement System doesn't issue estimated pension and benefits before retirement due to potential Internal Revenue Code and Retirement Code benefit limits, System spokeswoman Pamela Hile told the Associated Press.
The Associated Press instead used a formula to determine benefits and found that he may be eligible for a pension equal to 100 percent of the average of his three highest-salary years.
Paterno's pay rose from $541,000 to $568,000 over the past three years, according to the Associated Press.
Last week, Paterno lost his job as head football coach when his former top assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing boys for more than fifteen years, according to the Associated Press. Though Paterno has not been charged with any crime, he is being criticized for how he responded after a graduate assistant alleged he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the locker room.
