Nick Rolovich changes tactics to avoid vaccine mandate

Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich has applied for a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to his mentor June Jones.

USA Today released a report Saturday morning that Rolovich faces an Oct. 18 deadline from the state of Washington to get vaccinated or get approved for an exemption because the state put a mandate in effect for Washington state employees. If he doesn’t meet those requirements, according to the report, Rolovich could lose his job.

Jones, a former college coach at a number of schools, was the quarterbacks coach at Hawaii, where he coached Rolovich, a former quarterback, then worked with him as a student assistant on the Rainbow Warriors’ offense. He told USA Today that Rolovich did not elaborate on why he decided against receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

“He and I have had six or seven conversations over the last 60 days, and my advice is for him to take the shot,” Jones said of Rolovich to USA Today. “There’s too much at stake to risk losing his job, and it’s an unfortunate situation. It may be against what he believes obviously, but there are more people at stake – the university’s credibility, the lives of the assistant coaches and their families. There’s a whole bunch more at stake than just him, and that’s exactly what I told him.”

Back in July, Rolovich shared that he would not be able to attend Pac-1`2 media day in person because of his vaccination status. He said in a statement that he has “made his own decision” regarding the vaccine, opting not to receive it for “reasons which will remain private.” He did not provide further comment on missing media day.

Washington State’s athletics department declined to comment on Rolovich’s COVID-19 vaccine status, and a university spokesperson, Phil Weiler, also declined to comment in-depth to USA Today; instead, he said, “Legally, we cannot comment on an individual employee’s medical status.”

Jones said that Rolovich did not share his reasoning behind the decision in their private conversations. He merely stated that Rolovich applied for religious exemption but has not yet heard back from Washington officials.

“I don’t know exactly, but I know [Rolovich] filed a religious exemption, and they haven’t decided on that yet,” Jones said. “He believes the way he believes, and he doesn’t think he needs it. It’s like I told him: It’s not about him anymore. It’s about the people around you and the credibility of the university, and he’s got to take one for the team.”

Rolovich is in his second season as the head coach at Washington State. The Cougars amassed a 1-3 record last season, with a couple cancellations due to COVID-19, and in 2020 they are off to a 2-3 start. Rolovich previously served as the head coach at Hawaii, where he had a 28-27 overall record in four years at the helm, went 2-1 in bowl games and won the 2019 Mountain West Coach of the Year award.