Report: Paterno contract deal reached amid scandal

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A newspaper says Penn State football coach Joe Paterno testified before a grand jury in a sex-abuse investigation of a longtime assistant coach the same month he began negotiating an amendment to his contact.

The New York Times says Paterno and the university reached agreement on the amended contract that eventually totaled $5.5 million in August, months before charges were filed against Jerry Sandusky.

The contract included a $3 million career bonus if Paterno retired at the end of the 2011 season. It also included access to a stadium box for his family for 25 years, parking privileges and access to hydrotherapy equipment for his wife.

Paterno was fired in November and died in January. Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of 45 counts.

Paterno family attorney Wick Sollers told the newspaper Friday that it was Penn State that proposed the package, and that many elements had existed in previous contracts.