It was April.

Warren Paboojian, the lawyer for Stacy Johnson-Klein, was frustrated because the California State University system didn't appear to be serious about settling his client's $6.6 million judgment plus millions more in attorneys' fees, plaintiff's costs and interest.

In Long Beach, meanwhile, system lawyers were telling CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and trustees that they had an excellent chance of prevailing on appeal against Johnson-Klein, the former Fresno State women's basketball coach who had successfully sued the university for sexual harrassment.

Two months later, the system agreed to pay Johnson-Klein and Paboojian $9 million -- $5.4 million immediately and $3.6 million over 20 years. The total was just $200,000 less than what Paboojian had sought in April.

By any measure, Paboojian and his client were the huge winners in a war of wills that began after a jury sided with Johnson-Klein last December.

So, what motivated the CSU system to cave in and virtually meet Paboojian's asking price?

According to a CSU insider, the mood in Long Beach changed dramatically after USA Today published a package of articles in mid-May detailing Title IX problems at Fresno State and the school's expensive legal losses to Johnson-Klein, former volleyball coach Lindy Vivas and former associate athletic director Diane Milutinovich.

Because of the articles, Reed and the trustees, for the first time, regarded the Johnson-Klein case as their problem instead of a Fresno State problem or a San Joaquin Valley problem, the insider says.

"With the whole country now looking at the CSU," the source says, system lawyers were told to get the case settled quickly -- and get it out of the national spotlight.