Former Washington State coach Nick Rolovich loses lawsuit against school over firing

Former Washington State head coach Nick Rolovich lost his lawsuit against the school over his firing amid failing to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

According to The Athletic, Judge Thomas O. Rice of the Eastern District of Washington handed down a summary judgement Monday.

“Rolovich applied for a religious exemption to the mandate, which was denied, and he was later fired along with four assistant coaches,” Ralph Russo wrote. “In 2022, Rolovich filed a lawsuit against the school, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Pat Chun, who was Washington State’s athletic director at the time of Rolovich’s firing.

“In 2023, a federal judge ruled that Rolovich could not sue Inslee and Chun and granted a motion to dismiss the two from the case as defendants.”

Rolovich alleged the school discriminated against him due to religious beliefs.

“Plaintiff frequently expressed secular concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine to friends, family members and coworkers,” the ruling stated, via The Athletic. “In the thousands of pages of discovery, Plaintiff does not invoke a religious objection to the vaccine. This alone is a basis for denying Plaintiff’s claimed religious objection.”

Rolovich also claimed breach of contract, saying Washington State unjustly fired him for cause and terminated his deal with no buyout.

Washington State argued that he refused to comply with the vaccine mandate and the judge wrote that the “overwhelming evidence” showed that Rolovich refusing to comply with the vaccine mandate would “cause undue hardship” to Washington State.

Rolovich went 33-33 across six seasons as a head coach, four at Hawaii and two at Washington State, including the Covid altered 2020 season.

He’s now a senior offensive assistant at Cal, which announced the hire in mid-December.

“The governor’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate was a critical measure to stem the spread of the virus during the pandemic,” Washington State said in a statement. “As the Court recognized, the overwhelming, undisputed evidence proved that allowing an unvaccinated head football coach to continue in his position during the height of the pandemic would have endangered the health and safety of the university community. 

“Thus, the university’s decision to deny Mr. Rolovich’s exemption request and terminate his employment was consistent with the governor’s proclamation, our duty to protect the university community, and the law.”