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No sooner had the communique from #WeAreUnited landed in inboxes over the weekend than Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich became a rallying point for the fledgling college athletes’ rights organization.
By the appearance of cutting wide receiver Kassidy Woods from the team Sunday and the controversy that was quick to swirl around it, Rolovich has given footing to the unity movement he apparently strongly opposes.
Rolovich, who left the University of Hawaii in January, seemed understanding of and agreeable with Woods’ plans to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns after the player cited his risk due to sickle cell disease.
But, in a transcript of a recording that Woods provided to his hometown newspaper the Dallas Morning News and others, Rolovich’s demeanor changed when Woods acknowledged being a follower of the #WeAreUnited that sprang from the Pac-12 ranks, seeming to suggest it could impact the player’s future.
On the transcript, Rolovich said, “There’s one way we’ll handle (the opt out) if it’s COVID-related related, then there’s one way we’re going to handle it if it’s joining this group.”
The WAU statement, signed by 13 players from 10 Pac-12 conference schools, asks that concerns about playing amid the pandemic and other racial, financial and social inequity issues be addressed or they may opt out of the coming season.
“If you say, ‘I’m opting out ‘cause of COVID and health and safety,’ I’m good,” Rolovich said, according to the transcript. “But this group (WAU) is going to change, uh, I guess, how things go in the future for everybody, at least at our school. Um, so just think about that is, if it’s about getting paid and not (inaudible) about racial justice and that stuff. Then it’s probably, it’s there’s two sides, there’s two sides here. I’m good with the Sickle Cell and the COVID, but this, this group (WAU) is going to be at a different level as far as how we’re kind of going to move forward in the future.”
Rolovich, according to the transcript, went on to say, “You’ll probably have to get your stuff out of the locker room, you know what I mean? Stuff like that. So, and you know, it adds to another — the less people we can have around the better chance we will have this season, I guess is what I’m saying. And if you’re not going to play, then we’re going to use the resources on the guys that are going to play this year.”
According to ESPN, the school said no players have been kicked off the team.
In tweets, Woods’ mother claimed multiple players who support the unity movement were told to clean out their lockers.
It paints Rolovich as a heavy-handed owner who is not about to brook a union getting a presence in his shop.
Football coaches, especially on the Power Five Conference level, are the princes of the collegiate athletic realm. They reap the biggest benefits, have the largest podium and wield the most power.
For decades when they told players to leap, the required response was, “how high?”
But that has been changing with increased focus on athletes’ rights, including the name, image and likeness campaign and racial injustice movement. Now, and as the players look around they see their counterparts in the NFL, NBA and MLB opting out in this COVID-19 wracked season, they also see colleges in a head-long rush to play games for the money and little leadership or oversight from the NCAA, just “recommendations.”
They ask, if the pro athletes, whose teams have the wherewithal to provide daily testing and “bubbles,” and who get paid to play are concerned or opting out, shouldn’t they be concerned, too?
Only now they are no longer just asking. They are also demanding. Demanding to be heard and demanding change.
And Rolovich, however unintended, has suddenly become a symbol.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@!staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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