In April 2013, plaintiff Beth Burns, 55, San Diego State University’s winningest women’s basketball coach, retired without explanation. Prior to resigning, Burns had made numerous Title IX complaints over the course of her career at San Diego State University. (Title IX is the 1972 law that mandates equitable treatment of male and female athletes at educational institutions that receive federal funding.) One specific complaint that Burns made in 2012 was about how the men’s basketball team was on its fifth set of game uniforms midway through the season, while the women’s team still had not received travel sweat suits ordered months earlier. Burns claimed that during an April 2013 meeting with Athletic Director Jim Sterk, she was given the option of resignation, termination, or retirement. As a result, Burns retired later that day. Burns claimed that she was forced to retire in retaliation for reporting the Title IX disclosures. Burns sued San Diego State University; the Board of Trustees of the California State University; Sterk; and a senior associate athletic director, John Wicker. Burns alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted a breach of contract, retaliation and discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and retaliation under the California Whistleblower Protection Act. The matter ultimately went to trial on the whistleblower claim only. Plaintiff’s counsel presented 12 gender equity “communications” that Burns made between 2012 and 2013, when Sterk was the Athletic Director. According to plaintiff’s counsel, the gender equity communications ranged from game-day giveaways to ticketing to equipment. Burns claimed that she had five different athletic directors in her most recent eight-year stint at San Diego State University and that the frequent turnover, “resulted in significant deficits for the women’s basketball program in terms of support infrastructure for academics and housing, facilities, equipment, promotion and staffing.” Burns further claimed, “The athletic directors focused their time, efforts and priorities on football and men’s basketball, to the detriment of women’s athletics.” Thus, she claimed that when she complained about the treatment of the women’s athletic program, she was forced to resign or retire, or else she would be fired. Defense counsel argued that Burns was terminated due to an incident involving an assistant coach, during which Burns had allegedly struck a clipboard on the lap of the assistant coach and then later elbowed him in the left shoulder during a February 2013 home game against Colorado State. Defense counsel further argued that the termination was also due to an internal investigation that chronicled Burns’ alleged “history” of mistreating subordinates. Counsel contended that since Burns had been with the university for 16 years and was the school’s winningest women’s basketball coach, the defendants gave Burns the option to resign or retire, rather than face being fired. In response, Burns claimed that incidental contact on the crowded bench led to the alleged contact with the assistant coach and that she was really terminated for reporting the Title IX disclosures., Burns was with San Diego State University for 16 years prior to her retirement. She claimed that she was forced into retirement one month after her team won a school-record of 27 games, and nine months after the university gave her a contract extension through the 2016-17 school year, which paid her $220,000 per year plus benefits and bonuses. However, she claimed that after she resigned from San Diego State University, she was out of work for a year before taking a job as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California for $150,000 per year. Thus, Burns sought recovery for her lost salary and pension benefits, plus recovery of non-economic damages.