FRESNO, Calif. — A former Fresno State volleyball coach was awarded $5.85 million yesterday by a jury that ruled the school discriminated against her for speaking up on behalf of female athletes.

Lindy Vivas, a Punahou School graduate, was fired in 2004, two years after coaching her team to its best season in history. University officials said Vivas was let go because she did not meet performance goals and ran a team that often played in empty arenas.

The 50-year-old coach sued, saying her contract wasn't renewed because she advocated for equal treatment of women athletes and access to facilities on the campus.

"The jury saw exactly what was happening," Vivas said. "They were targeting me, but what keeps getting lost in all this was there were 14 student athletes who were caught in the crossfire."

The jury award, which took into account Vivas' back wages, future lost pay and emotional distress, is likely the largest ever granted to a coach suing for retaliation under Title IX, said the coach's lawyer, Dan Siegel.

Title IX is a landmark federal law co-authored by late Hawai'i Congresswoman Patsy Mink requiring gender equity in scholastic athletics.

"Fresno State wants to be a big-time athletic power, but it has to start acting like one. That means treating men and women the same," Siegel said. "This is a complete vindication of her and who Lindy is as a person, as a coach, and what she had to live with as a result of their actions."

University officials said they feared publicity had influenced the outcome of the trial and planned to appeal the case "on a variety of grounds."

"We're extremely disappointed that the jury did not see that the university's actions in this matter were based solely on Ms. Vivas' job performance and her unwillingness to improve the volleyball program," the university said in a statement.

Thirty-five years after Congress passed Title IX, the percentage of women's teams coached by women is at its lowest point ever, and the average salaries for coaches of women's teams still trail those of coaches for men's teams, according to an Associated Press review of statistics provided by the NCAA and other groups.

"Everyone has been watching for this verdict because it explains to everyone that we weren't crazy, that it was real," Fresno State softball coach Margie Wright said. "It's awesome."