Penn State’s Right-to-Know report lists highest-paid employees. Here’s a look

Penn State’s annual Right-to-Know report shows athletics once again dominated the university’s highest-paid positions for fiscal year 2024-2025. Former head football coach James Franklin topped the list with a compensation package roughly five times larger than the university president’s.

FULL STORY: Who are Penn State’s top earners? See where university leaders, coaches rank

Here are key takeaways:

• Former football coach James Franklin led all earners with $8.57 million in total compensation, with $7.3 million — nearly 85% — coming from bonus and incentive pay. Franklin was fired in October.
• Athletics accounted for five of the top seven compensation packages, though only two of those employees remain with the university. Men’s basketball coach Mike Rhoades ranked third at $3.5 million.
• President Neeli Bendapudi ranked seventh on the list, earning $1.6 million in total compensation.
• Former Penn State Health CEO Stephen Massini ranked second at $3.6 million, despite retiring in October 2024. Nearly $1 million came from retirement and deferred compensation.
• The report is required under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, which was expanded in 2023 to require state-related universities to disclose the top 175 salaries paid.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.