Nick Rolovich was in a pretty great spot in the college football world in 2020. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic created a situation where we all had to come together to protect one another. Some Americans did and others didn’t. Rolovich was in the latter group and he lost his job as head coach of the Washington State football team over it. Now, he’s talking about why he decided not to comply with the state’s vaccine mandate.
Rolovich was a hot commodity in 2019 after leading Hawaii to a 10-3 season and bowl victory. He was hired by Washington State to build the program back up following Mike Leach’s departure. The team had a lot of potential but the program was mired in distractions when the head coach seemingly refused to comply with the Washington State vaccine mandate that all state employees get vaccinated.
After a very public game of chicken, Washington State fired Rolovich and four other assistant coaches in October. Specifically, WSU fired Rolovich for cause, which prevented him from receiving the nearly $9 million remaining on his contract. In August, Rolovich followed through on his promise and filed a $25 million wrongful termination claim against Washington State.
Rolovich spoke with The Daily Wire on Friday to discuss how the situation played out from his point of view and that he has no regrets about deciding not to get vaccinated.
“The priest broke it down to me, because he wanted to know why, and I said, ‘This is just how I’m feeling,’ and he says, ‘Well, that’s your conscience talking to you and the Catholic church recognizes your conscience,'” Rolovich told The Daily Wire. “That was what was speaking to me the whole time. It was real hard because I was unvaccinated, couldn’t meet with the [players]. I’m stuck in my office all day. It was really unhealthy for me, but I have no regrets on my decision.”
Rolovich says he only regrets that he didn’t say at the time that he chose not to get the vaccine for religious reasons.
“I thought as football coach, you don’t need to talk about politics, you don’t need to talk about religion, you don’t need to talk about medical,” Rolovich said. “That was all kind of off limits. For our staff. I just said, ‘You’re for it, you’re against it. I don’t care.’ It just got real strange, real fast.”
The football coach said that while he waits on movement to continue his legal action against Washington State, he admits that he’s not sure he’ll get another job in coaching. However, he also added that other people who refused the vaccine are dealing with more hardships than he is.
“It’s just not a real good look on our society.”
We tend to think that the over one million Americans dead from COVID-19 when vaccines could have helped to prevent many of those deaths is not a real good look on our society, but, to each their own.
