ASU report on Mayich collapse lists the missed rules, assigns no blame

Arizona State released the preliminary findings of its internal review into the Aug. 20 off-ice workout where defenseman Matthew Mayich collapsed, and the report assigns no blame. The Mayich family's attorney, Rob Carey, called it "more advocacy than fact-finding," per College Hockey News.

Mayich, 21, remains hospitalized. He suffered exertional heat stroke during the session at Sun Angel Stadium, according to the Associated Press.

What the report says

The review, submitted by senior vice president James Rund to president Michael Crow, lays out a chain of procedural misses, per Cronkite News. The coaching staff asked permission for consultant Tim Ziesel, a former Green Beret, to run a team-building event.

They "did not submit a plan of training activities for review by ASU's strength and conditioning coaches prior to the event," Rund wrote. Ziesel had no contract with the school.

ASU's own guidelines say outside consultants can't work with athletes, coaches or staff until that paperwork is done, per College Hockey News.

The workout started at 7 a.m. with temperatures between 86 and 89 degrees and humidity around 46 to 51 percent, per the AP. Those numbers put the session in the "moderate" heat-risk category, and ASU policy called for a cold tub on site in those conditions. There wasn't one.

Mayich went down during a wind-down run while carrying a 10-pound medicine ball. Per Cronkite News, he stumbled, dropped the ball, tried to keep going and collapsed. The athletic trainer called 911, and staff moved him to shade and applied iced towels. The school's protocol for heat illness calls for immediate immersion in ice water.

The review involved interviews with 20 people and is still ongoing. Arizona State police are running a separate investigation. Mayich had been on campus eight days when the workout happened, per College Hockey News.

What ASU is doing about it

Instead of ruling on whether policies were broken, the university says it will convene a multidisciplinary expert panel to recommend best practices for planning, staffing, approval and emergency response at outdoor workouts, and for the use of outside consultants.

Carey's answer to that, per the AP: "A committee isn't going to tell us why grown men with a rulebook in their hands let this happen." He said the family will ask the county attorney to open an independent investigation.

The Ferda take

There's no take here that matters more than a 21-year-old in a hospital bed. So we'll keep it to this.

The report itself lists the rules that existed: consultants need approval, workouts need a submitted plan, a cold tub needs to be there, heat stroke means ice-water immersion. On the school's own account, each of those was missed. A panel that recommends best practices is fine, but the best practices were already written down.

Every college program runs summer conditioning in heat. Every one of them should read this report today.

What's next

The internal review continues, the police investigation continues, and the family is pushing for the county attorney to get involved.