How much money is Penn State paying Shrewsberry? And why won’t the school tell us?

In a span of two hours Tuesday night, I had three different people reach out with salary information. One said the scuttlebutt is Micah Shrewsberry is getting $2 million a year from Penn State. Another commented on one of our stories and said it’s $3 million. Another emailed and said it’s more than $2 million.

Big numbers.

Surprising numbers.

True numbers?

Let’s hope so. Because paying the men’s basketball coach $2 million would be a big step in the right direction for Penn State, after it’s believed that Patrick Chambers was making just a little over $1 million.

Let’s just say, though, that I have a hard time believing that $2 million figure. And $3 million sounds like a pipe dream, given all that we know about Penn State’s finances and basketball’s place in said finances.

Will we ever find out how much Shrewsberry is making?

This is where things get interesting.

Penn State has been pretty forthcoming with the head football coaches’ salaries in the post-Joe Paterno era. We found out immediately what Bill O’Brien was getting paid on the day of his introductory press conference, and PSU has released contract details for James Franklin, both initially and when he got an extension in late 2019 (with details on the latter coming out two months later).

Penn State has wanted to show the rest of the world its commitment to football by releasing Franklin’s contract details. They’re pretty impressive.

Penn State has never wanted to show the world its lack of commitment to men’s basketball, by not releasing Chambers’ salary or that of his predecessor, Ed DeChellis, who reportedly was making about $650,000.

See where I’m going with this?

If indeed Penn State is paying Shrewsberry close to or more than $2 million, you would think the school would want to