A Fresno jury returned a staggering and unanimous $19.1 million verdict in favor of former Fresno State women’s basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, who charged that her firing almost three years ago was the result of gender bias and retaliation.
Klein contended that Fresno State treated women in the athletic department less favorably than men, and that she had to endure sexual harassment from her supervisors so she wouldn’t lose her job. She claimed that when she brought the problems to light, the university responded by investigating her on charges that she was cruel to players and abused her teacher position.
Fresno State, which argued at trial that Johnson-Klein was terminated because she was abusive to players and violated NCAA rules, says it plans to appeal the verdict.
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