Gonzaga baseball coach’s DUI charge amended to reckless driving; ordered to spend 1 day in jail, 2 years probation

Gonzaga University head baseball coach Mark Machtolf will spend one day in jail and serve two years of probation after his charge from a DUI arrest earlier this year in Reardan was amended to reckless driving as part of a plea agreement.

Machtolf’s blood alcohol content measured as high as 0.284, more than three times the legal limit, when he was arrested the night of June 9, according to an arrest report. He told law enforcement he drank two IPAs that night.

A Lincoln County District Court judge sentenced Machtolf, 58, last month to two days in jail, and he was given credit for one day served, according to court documents. He will report to jail Friday.

The court fined Machtolf $1,500. He will undergo an alcohol evaluation and complete recommended treatment, documents say.

Machtolf is entering his 20th season this spring as the Bulldogs head coach.

Police were notified of a blue pickup truck that was reportedly traveling all over the road around 8 p.m. June 9, according to an arresting officer statement from Melissa Foust.

Foust located the blue truck, a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado, as it pulled into a parking space in front of the Reardan Store. When the driver, Machtolf, left the store, he appeared to “slowly and lethargically stumble repeatedly from the store to his vehicle,” the arrest report says.

Foust wrote she pulled Machtolf over outside the Speed Trap Tap House less than a block from the Reardan Store. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI after performing field sobriety tests and declining a preliminary breath test. Machtolf’s BAC was measured later at the Lincoln County Jail.

The DUI arrest was the second among Gonzaga head coaches since last year. Men’s basketball coach Mark Few pleaded guilty to DUI after he was arrested on Labor Day 2021 near Coeur d’Alene.

Few was ordered to complete 24 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine in lieu of spending four days in jail, according to court documents. His driver’s license was suspended until Nov. 5, 2021, when an ignition interlock device was required to be used while he was on probation for the next year.