ASU hockey players dispute review of Matthew Mayich collapse, seek coaching changes
Seven players anonymously reported that heat safety rules were ignored during the workout and want coaches replaced while an independent investigation examines the collapse.
Seven ASU hockey players are challenging the university’s internal review of the workout in which Matthew Mayich collapsed from heat illness Aug. 20. (Photo via St. Louis Blues)
(Photo via St. Louis Blues)
Seven members of Arizona State University’s men’s hockey team told the school’s president that safety policies were ignored during an outdoor workout in which a teammate collapsed from heat illness.
The 26-page report, submitted anonymously through Phoenix attorney Tim Casey, disputes an internal review released a week earlier by Senior Vice President James Rund.
They are calling for the coaching staff to be replaced while an independent investigation takes place.
“We are submitting this report anonymously because we fear retaliation from the coaching staff,” the players wrote. “The head coach and his assistant coaches were all on the field on Aug. 20, all remain in their positions and together they decide our playing time, scholarship levels and roster status.”
What ASU hockey players say happened before Matthew Mayich collapsed
Matthew Mayich collapsed Aug. 20 during a workout at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe led by outside instructor Tim Ziesel.
The players say the session lasted more than 75 minutes, not 45 as the Rund report found.
They say there was one brief water break that Mayich never reached, and that Ziesel left before the final drill, when Mayich fell.
They also say no cold-water immersion tub or ice was on the field, as ASU’s heat policy requires.
An attorney for the Mayich family, Robert Carey, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that much of what the players describe was new to the family and “far worse than we knew.”
“The university has accepted falsehoods about conduct that put a young man on life support, and that is inexcusable,” he said.
He said coach Greg Powers and Ziesel had described a short, easy session with water available, and that the Rund report adopted that account.
He called on President Michael Crow to order an outside investigation “without further delay.”
The players asked Crow to act before the team’s Oct. 2 season opener.
According to the players’ letter, no one involved has been disciplined.
Mayich remains in stable, but critical condition, according to Carey.
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Comments
3 Comments
If ASU has been circling the wagons around the coaching staff, this latest just might cause all those wagons to disappear.
Guess they didn't close the circle, because some of the horses are getting out.
Kudos to those kids who had the stones to step up and start exposing what really happened out there.
If you're in a program where you fear retaliation by the university for discovery of facts, or your scholarship and roster status can be jeopardized by telling the truth, you would do well by transferring to another program.