Washington State University (WSU) fired top US college football coach Nick Rolovich, for failing to meet a vaccine mandate.
Nick Rolovich was fired along with four of his assistants, for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The mandate means all state workers in Washington have to be fully receive vaccination against Covid-19 or lose their jobs.
Rolovich, 42, is the highest-paid employee at WSU, earning $3.1m (£2.25m) a year.
The Football Coach had applied for a religious exemption from the mandate.
But WSU’s Director of Athletics, Pat Chun, said the exemption had been refused.
“This is a disheartening day for our football programme,” Chun further said.
“Our priority has been and will continue to be the health and wellbeing of the young men in our team.”
US President Joe Biden has earlier announced a set of new Covid-19 measures to prevent a new wave of the virus.
The new measures require workers at large companies to receive their vaccination or face weekly testing.
Moreover, the measures include a vaccine mandate for millions of federal government workers. But, they come as cases in the country are surging.
Hospitals in several states have reached capacity amid the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant.
The new requirements cover about 100 million workers.
“This is not about freedom, or personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” the president said as he unveiled his plan.
More than 650,000 Americans have died with Covid-19 since last year. Some 80 million people in the US remain unvaccinated.
