He could easily call a $1 settlement a "vindication".
I don't really put much weight on the C-L's claim that the first day of testimony damaged the NCAA's case, either. It was the first day of the Plaintiff putting on his case; it better be damaging to the Defendant or he is going to have a problem. The NCAA still had to put on their defense, and I seriously doubt they were surprised by any of the testimony on the first day.
Here is what we know: Johannigsmeir was listening to rumors from XenaReb, and he investigated those rumors. Most of the rumors were not true, and did not result in NCAA allegations, but he kept listening to her. He eventually came up with some stuff that stuck, but even the NCAA threw some of that stuff out because it either wasn't credible or it was based on the testimony of confidential witnesses with no corroborating evidence.
So, we had a lengthy 3 year investigation with many public rumors, but only small violations found at the end.
And how was Jackie really damaged by that? He came to MSU with a terrible reputation, and he upheld that reputation by getting us on probation in the mid 90s. He rebounded from 96-2000, but he only won 8 games in his last 3 years. I love Jackie and his time at State, but I don't think the NCAA is to blame for ending his coaching career. He never had a show cause of any sort, and he could have taken a job as an assistant or as a head coach at another level of the game.
It is possible he got a huge payday yesterday, I just doubt it.