Former ISU softball coach Ruth Crowe was awarded $287,000 in damages after claiming the ISU athletics department wrongfully fired her in 2005.

Crowe’s lawyers argued to a Polk County jury that Crowe was dismissed for complaining to members of the athletic department about inequity between men’s and women’s athletics in coach’s compensation and money for recruiting.

Crowe had a 166-244 record in nine seasons, and surrounded herself with controversy by objecting to a pregame invocation at Baylor and calling Texas A&M fans “dumb farmers.”

The dismissal came during former athletic director Bruce Van De Velde’s tenure at Iowa State.