'It Got Real Strange, Real Fast' — Former Washington State Coach Fired For Being Unvaccinated Opens Up

One of college football's biggest stories in 2021 was Nick Rolovich being fired as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars for refusing to get vaccinated for COVID.

That unspeakable crime was enough to see him banned from attending Pac-12 events or interacting with his players at times, due to insane, nonsensical COVID policies in far left Washington.

Rolovich recently fired a wrongful termination claim against the university, which is currently ongoing.

Now he's speaking out in further detail about the disgraceful conduct of Washington State personnel and what went on behind the scenes before he was fired.

Rolovich was interviewed by The Daily Wire's Allison Williams and detailed a "lack of answers, lack of dialogue" about potential effects from the vaccine and how his Catholic religious beliefs influenced him to not comply with the mandate.

He spoke to a priest about his objections, who supported Rolovich's decision, saying his conscience was leading him to make his choice.

"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 . I'm stuck in my office all day. It was really unhealthy for me, but I have no regrets on my decision."

Of course, because of government enforced discrimination, his personal health choice that had no impact on those around him meant he couldn't meet with his own players.

Rolovich didn't speak out about his reasoning at the time, which he explained was due to his belief that coaches didn't need to get involved in discussing politics or religion:

"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."

Clearly he hasn't spent enough time listening to Steve Kerr or Gregg Popovich, who never have a problem engaging in blatant activism and promoting their left wing political views as the only acceptable choice.

Political Persecution For Nick Rolovich

The university told him he had only a few options to avoid getting vaccinated, and Rolovich explained to the school's athletic director that he would pursue the religious exemption choice.

Except he was told by Patrick Chun that, "We're not going to believe you, you know, the governor's not happy with you."

Apparently, the school's human resources department approved his religious exemption, but Chun "helped" get it overturned, in Rolovich's estimation.

The team's director of football operations also asked questions about the vaccine, and he was also dismissed soon afterwards:

"I already said to renew him, I was happy with the job he did," Rolovich said. " says three or four times an at-will employee. And I call an F---ing coward and walked out. That's when it really started getting bad between me and Pat."

He also said he'd still make the same decision today, despite the job he sacrificed:

"A lot of people called me, texted me, 'I'll take 10 shots for that money,'" Rolovich said. "That's great, I won't, not right now with what we know and how I feel. Sitting here seven months later, to me, God was right, trusting that feeling and that belief really did end up helping me out."

Inexcusable Behavior

It's entirely indefensible that Washington State went after Rolovich for exercising sincerely held religious beliefs. It's also entirely indefensible that the state of Washington mandated vaccines, based on nothing.

It's equally indefensible that the governor got involved because a prominent individual refusing to get vaccinated would make him look bad.

Everything about this situation is an embarrassment for the sport, for Governor Jay Inslee and for the university.

The fact that this kind of persecution was allowed and encouraged by "experts" and liberal administrators is a stain on the country's history.

COVID authoritarianism has caused incalculable damage to lives and careers, while accomplishing absolutely nothing of value.

Rolovich's story isn't exclusive to him, many have faced the same persecution and consequences for the crime of making personal health choices.

Hopefully he prevails in his lawsuit and forces the university and state to make up for some of the harm they've caused.