It took Nick Rolovich nearly two decades to climb from high school assistant to Washington State Cougars head football coach. That’s a lot of grinding, a lot of recruiting, a lot of film study.
The reward was a $3 million-a-year salary, a chance at the big-time of the Pac-12 and the promise of even better jobs and better pay ahead. In just his second season, Rolovich had the Cougars (4-3) on a three-game winning streak, after all. His program in Pullman, Washington, was starting to look a lot like his previous one at Hawaii, which won its conference.