The former Washington State coach spoke out about his reasons for not getting the vaccine, as well as the "ugly conversations" he had with school administrators that led to his firing.
In his first public comments since his firing, Rolovich told DailyWire+ that lack of answers, lack of dialogue about the effects of the vaccine, and his beliefs as a Catholic, led him to not comply with the governor.
Washington State fired five assistant coaches, including Rolovich, for not complying with a state mandate to get the vaccine. The $9 million remaining on his contract was prevented from being paid by the school. The school was the subject of a wrongful terminated claim by Rolovich.
"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 said, 'Well, that's your conscience talking to you and the catholic church recognizes your conscience,'" That was what I was hearing all day. It was difficult because I was unvaccinated. I'm not able to leave my office. It was bad for me but I have no regrets.
He regretted not revealing that he wouldn't get the vaccine because of his religious beliefs.
"As a football coach, you don't need to talk about politics, you don't need to talk about religion, and you don't need to talk about medicine," he said. It was all off limits. It's for our staff. I told him that he was for it and against it. I don't pay much attention. It just got really weird.
The athletic director of Washington State outlined his options when he wouldn't comply with the vaccine requirement.
"Chun told me to resign, get the vax, get a medical exemption, and get a religious exemption," said Allison Williams, a former reporter who left the network because of Disney's vaccine mandate. I'm not going to get it. I am not leaving. I would be lying if I said I was going to get a medical. I will do a religious exemption. They both said that the governor wasn't happy with you.
Washington State's human resources department approved his religious exemption request, but his supervisor wrote a letter questioning his belief in science. Rolovich told Williams that he thought Chun helped him get an exemption.
Washington State and Chun did not respond to the allegations.
The athletic department was given a presentation by Dr. Guy Palmer about the vaccine. David Fox, Washington State's director of football operations, asked Palmer about the effects of the vaccine on women trying to get pregnant. Two weeks after Fox's comments, Chun said he wasn't renewing Fox's job.
I was happy with the job he did and I renewed him. Chun claims three or four times that Fox is an at- will employee. I called Chun an F---ing Coward and left. It began to get bad between me and Pat at that time.
Rolovich didn't address a 1-on-1 meeting that was arranged for him with Palmer, who said that he had "major hesitancy" about the vaccine.
Is Bill Gates involved with the vaccine industry? Does Gates have a patent on the vaccine? Palmer spoke to the sports network. He inquired about whether or not the vaccine might be dangerous. No, the answer to that is no.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a right-to-sue letter that Rolovich is waiting on. He said he's not sure if he can get another job in coaching, but noted that others, such as frontline workers, sacrificed more than he did, adding, "It's just not a good look on our society."
A lot of people said they would take 10 shots for the money. Right now, I won't, not with what we know and how I feel. When I sat here seven months later, I believed that God was right and that belief helped me out.
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