Former WSU RBs coach Robbie Rouse arrested on suspicion of DUI; police say he blew four times legal limit
PULLMAN – State troopers arrested former Washington State running backs coach Robbie Rouse earlier this month on suspicion of driving under the influence, a police report shows.
The 34-year-old abruptly resigned his position via news release Wednesday morning, with the school citing “personal reasons.”
Rouse, who came to WSU from South Dakota State with head coach Jimmy Rogers in early January, was pulled over by a Washington State Patrol trooper around 5 p.m. on March 16 while driving on U.S. Highway 195 north of Colfax. The trooper noticed Rouse speeding – 68 mph in a 60 mph zone – and veering side to side in his 2016 black Cadillac CTS, according to court records.
Rouse told the trooper he was coming from Spokane and initially said he only had one drink, then told the trooper he had “two rum and cokes,” the report said. The trooper noticed his speech was slurred and asked him to take a breathalyzer test. Rouse allegedly refused, so he was placed under arrest.
Rouse provided breath samples to test for alcohol while at the Whitman County Jail. According to the trooper’s report, Rouse blew above a .3 multiple times, roughly four times the legal limit of .08.
After “vomiting all over the jail floor several times” and hanging on to a chair to keep from falling, a doctor cleared him for booking, according to court records.
Rouse was released March 17 on his own recognizance. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 24. He has also had two other DUIs in the past 10 years, the police report states.
In a one-sentence news release WSU shared on Wednesday morning, Rogers announced Rouse was resigning “due to personal matters” with no further explanation. When reached for a statement, a WSU spokesperson referred to the original release.
It appears the Cougars might have a replacement for Rouse. Former Wyoming running backs coach Donnell Kirkwood is reportedly moving on to WSU, according to a report Tuesday from The Casper Star-Tribune. Kirkwood spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at North Dakota before accepting the Wyoming job in January.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a BAC between .30 and .40 often results in alcohol poisoning, a potentially life-threatening condition, and sometimes loss of consciousness. At .40, drinkers experience a potentially fatal level, putting them at risk of coma or death because of respiratory arrest.
With a BAC between .30 and .34, according to the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University, “if you are still conscious, you are in a stupor. You likely have no comprehension of where you are or what you are doing. There have been numerous cases of alcohol poisoning and death in this range of BAC. You are in need of medical help.”
According to other observations on the report, Rouse’s Cadillac was registered in North Dakota, and his driver’s license is from South Dakota, where he worked the 2023 and 2024 seasons as South Dakota State’s running backs coach.
Before that job, he coached the same position at Division III College of St. Scholastica (Minnesota) in 2017, at Division II Augustana (South Dakota) University in 2019, at FCS North Dakota from 2020-21 and at FCS Cal Poly in 2022.