Arizona State University’s initial review of a workout that left men’s hockey player Matthew Mayich on life support didn’t assign responsibility for what happened and promised only to create a “blue-ribbon advisory panel” to give “recommendations” for future outdoor athletic activities and the use of non-university consultants.
As reported by Adam Kilgore, Nathan Fenno and Katie Strang of The Athletic, the letter and attached four-page timeline released Tuesday said the team’s coaching staff sought permission for ex-Green Beret Tim Ziesel to address players but didn’t submit his training activities to the school’s strength and conditioning coaches for review.
More than a month removed from the resulting Aug. 20 workout, Mayich, 21, remains in a coma and has been deemed unlikely to recover from what Mayich family attorney Rob Carey called exertional heatstroke.
The review said an Arizona State hockey supporter introduced Ziesel to coach Greg Powers in January, leading to a talk Ziesel gave to the team last season and the workout he led in August. Ziesel didn’t have a contract with the school for what was planned to be a three-day “team-building” exercise, according to the timeline.
“This report, it’s more advocacy than fact-finding,” Carey said, per The Athletic. “It completely misses the point. I’m just blown away that they’re offering up a committee to come up with new policies. The problem is not that ASU lacked policies. The problem is, no one followed them. They literally violated every policy they have, and their conclusion is, ‘Let’s call for a blue-ribbon panel to tell us about policies?’ Mind-boggling. We’re a month later, and ASU’s report holds no one accountable.”
Phoenix public radio station KJZZ reported that ASU’s hockey team "may not have been following university policies" the day Mayich fell ill. KJZZ's Katherine Davis-Young laid out specifics in the report:
- The report says Mayich, who was new to the team, had arrived in Arizona just eight days prior to the workout and says he had participated in brief outdoor exercises during that time.
- Aug. 20 was the first day of coach-led practice. The National Weather Service had issued an extreme heat warning that day. The team practiced at Sun Angel Stadium, an outdoor track-and-field facility on ASU’s Tempe campus.
- The report says the workout started at 7 a.m. and consisted of calisthenics, bodyweight exercises such as pushups and planks, and running.
- After more than an hour outdoors, during a wind-down activity running with a medicine ball, Mayich appeared to struggle, then fell to the ground, the report says.
- The ASU athletics department's heat illness policy requires a tub half-filled with cold water to be available for immediate immersion in cases of heat illness and says three or four coolers of ice should be available next to the tub to quickly use in case of emergency. It recommends full-body immersion in cold water as the first response to heat illness.
- The policy says student athletes should be given time to gradually acclimatize to heat over a period of seven to 14 days. The policy also states practices should be in settings similar to competition.
- The report says on the morning of Aug. 20, the outdoor temperature was between 86 and 89 degrees and humidity was between 51% and 46%. The ASU athletics department's heat illness policy classifies those conditions as “moderate” heat risk. In this risk category, the policy says, “heat sensitive and unacclimatized athletes may suffer. Use caution during prolonged activity.”
“The athletic trainer assessed his condition and began applying iced towels and cool water to him,” the report states, per KJZZ. “While Matthew was initially responsive, his condition deteriorated. The athletic trainer called 911 and asked for EMS to respond. She directed student-athletes to assist her in moving Matthew to a shady area and continued applying iced towels and water from a hose while waiting for EMS.”
According to Davis-Young, the report does not place blame on any party involved, but notes ASU police are conducting their own investigation into the incident.
Carey, the Mayich family attorney, has called for an independent investigation.
“There's a child who’s incapacitated and unlikely to recover, and you don’t think there was a mistake here? That’s just not a normal outcome,” Carey told KJZZ. “The university’s got to set an example here of how you handle when you make a mistake.”
