College football coach appeals dismissal case over vaccine religious exemption

A former college football coach appealed his case Wednesday after he was fired by Washington State University for requesting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine in the fall of 2021.

“Sidelining a coach for standing by his faith betrays the spirit of college athletics and religious freedom,” Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement. “The Ninth Circuit should throw the flag on WSU’s unnecessary roughness and protect every American’s right to live and work according to their faith.”

Coach Nick Rolovich joined the Cougars as head coach in 2020, but his career was cut short after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted college athletics and restricted personal contact for multiple seasons. In August 2021, then-Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued a vaccine mandate for state employees, which included WSU staff, according to Becket, which is representing Rolovich.

Rolovich believed the vaccine violated his religious conscience according to his Catholic faith because of its “complicity with abortion,” Becket explained.

“He was supported by his own priest in that understanding,” Davis said during oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Seattle Wednesday. “In fact, it was his priest that encouraged him to seek a religious exemption after having these spiritual conversations with Rolovich and understanding his objections in terms of conscience.”

Rolovich informed the school’s athletic director, Patrick Chun, that he would request a religious exemption from the mandate, but Chun told Rolovich he would “‘forever question’ his character.”

“When Rolovich told defendant Chun that he had to put his faith and his family above football, defendant Chun responded and said, ‘Your beliefs are making you incapable of leading this team,’ and he compared his beliefs to those of religious cults,” Davis said during oral arguments.

The school’s blind-review panel approved the exemption, concluding that Rolovich’s beliefs were sincerely held and religious, but Chun and the athletic department pressured WSU Human Resources to withdraw its approval. Chun rejected the school’s Environmental Health & Safety Department’s proposed accommodations, citing donor opposition and harm to WSU’s “brand,” according to Becket. The school fired Rolovich on Oct. 18, 2021, amid his winning season.

Zach Pekelis, attorney for Chun, argued Rolovich’s exemption would have imposed an “undue hardship” on the school.

“An unvaccinated employee with highly close contacts in his job, which Rolovich concededly has, has increased risk, as a matter of science, which is undisputed on this record, and presents an undue hardship as a matter of law,” Pekelis said, adding that the vaccine saved “2 million lives in the U.S.”

Davis, however, argued Rolovich’s case should go before a jury because it qualifies as “disparate treatment,” according to court proceedings.

“When an employer is in this position, the employer is supposed to explain its accommodation obligation,” Davis said Wednesday. “It’s not allowed to turn objections by donors or customers into a sort of heckler’s veto.”

Rolovich sued the school in 2022, but Washington’s Eastern District Court ruled in favor of WSU in January 2025, so he appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Kelsey McGee, a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, joined Becket before the appellate court as a friend of the court to defend Rolovich on behalf of the United States. She argued that the district court ignored Title VII, which sends cases such as Rolovich’s before a jury.

“The court here ignored several facts in the record that showed that Mr. Rolovich is a committed Catholic with ties back to his childhood, through high school, through college, having his own children baptized,” McGee said before the Ninth Circuit.

“When all of these events started to happen, where did he go? He sought religious counsel. He looked to the teachings of his church. And he made a decision based on his religious conscience, which, through the Catholic catechism, looking at his declaration attached to his request for religious accommodation, the church says to follow a religious conscience is to follow Jesus Himself,” she continued.

The Ninth Circuit is expected to release a decision in the coming months, according to Becket.

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