Washington State did not fire Nick Rolovich on Monday. The school was simply a vessel of dismissal, fulfilling a government mandate to save lives and contain the pandemic.
In fact, Rolovich fired Rolovich.
He alone is responsible for his firing in the middle of the second season and with his team on the rise.
He alone bears the brunt of the Pullman mess, the massive disruption of the football program, the enormous embarrassment to the university, and a blow to the guts of Cougar voters.
Why did Rolovich refuse the COVID vaccine? Was it really for religious reasons? Was this anti-vaccination policy? Ignorance?
After all these months, we still don’t know.
Rolovich, the university’s most public figure, never explained himself. His inability to provide a reasonable explanation – to do nothing but mumble the answer – exacerbated the problem.
There is no one else to blame.
“This is a sad day for our football program,” said sports director Pat Chun in a statement released by the university.
“Our priority has been and will be the health and well-being of the young people of our team. The leadership of our football team is composed of young people with character, dedication and resilience, and we are confident that these same qualities will help guide this program as we move forward. ”
As politically dangerous as this issue is, Washington State made the process as fair and objective as possible.
He worked with the state attorney general’s office to determine the criteria for exoneration.
He created and trained a group of people to handle requests for benefits for religious and medical reasons.
He used information from numerous departments at the university to determine if Rolovich could be made to ensure public safety by effectively fulfilling his contractual responsibilities.
These responsibilities go far beyond watching movies alone in your office and exercising on the sidelines with a mask and headphones.
He should interact with recruits, attend alumni and sponsor events, and represent the university – the entire university – in public.
It was untenable, and anyone with a grain of common sense knew about it.
So what’s next?
Defense Coordinator Jake Dickert will serve as interim coach for the team that has won three in a row and is in the race for the Northern Division title.
Players still have a lot to do. When the problem is solved, the school will be able to fully focus on the players, and this is where it should have always been, if not for the head coach, who did everything for himself.
(Four helpers have refused the vaccine and are being expelled as well.)
Obviously, the players rallied around Rolovich. After losing at Utah, they won three games in a row against rivals from the division and were one game out of the losing column. This is their eternal merit.
Some players might agree with their head coach. Others may not have bothered in one way or another. And it doesn’t matter. These are the kids who play football, not the leaders of a society fighting a 19-month-old pandemic.
Since that day in early August, when Gov. Jay Inslee announced his mandate for civil servants and Rolovich made it clear he would not get vaccinated, there has been no other plausible end result, folks.
He had to leave.
In a highly politicized world of viruses and vaccines, Rolovich’s stance was essentially a Rorschach test for the WSU community.
On the one hand, those who believe that the mandate itself is wrong, or the vaccine is not needed, or both.
On the other hand, those who believe the vaccine limits the spread of the virus, reduces mortality and hospitalizations, and limits the incubation of future variants.
The hotline believes that all aspects of Rolovich’s position were abomination.
Retreating from the Burden of Leadership.
Taking a selfish attitude.
Refusal of a public figure from public responsibility.
Failure to do what was best for his team, for his players.
All this is an absolute abomination.
As for the position of Washington State, it is clear. As an R1 (top tier) research institution that had just built a medical school and hired a scientist as president, the university took the position.
Rolovich had the right not to receive the vaccine.
The university had the right – no, it had to – show him the door.
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