Arizona State Hockey Coach Placed on Leave After Player's Collapse
Left 43%
Center 14%
Right 43%
3 left · 1 center · 3 right
What happened
On August 20, Arizona State University hockey player Matthew Mayich, 21, of Hamilton, Ontario, collapsed during an outdoor team workout on a day whose high reached 104°F and suffered heatstroke; he remains on life support and, family attorney Rob Carey has said, is unlikely to recover. ASU’s September 21 internal report stated that temperatures during the session were 86–89°F and that an athletic trainer assessed Mayich, applied iced towels and cool water, called 911, and had him moved to shade after he collapsed during a medicine-ball exercise. Seven anonymous teammates, through attorney Timothy J. Casey, and Mayich’s parents, John and Christina, wrote to President Michael Crow alleging the report understated on-field heat, that water breaks lasted seconds, that required cooling equipment was absent, and that Mayich showed distress before collapsing during a session involving outside consultant Tim Ziesel. On Wednesday, athletic director Graham Rossini placed head coach Greg Powers on paid administrative leave, with assistant Mike Corbett to coach the season opener against Lindenwood and an interim head coach to be named; Powers said he supported the move so a review could proceed “without distraction.” ASU police are investigating, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said her office will review the matter “at the highest level,” and Arizona House and Senate education chairs Matt Gress and Hildy Angius asked the Board of Regents to retain an independent investigator.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 7 articles
6 of 7 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report, credited to The Athletic.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 6 of 7
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Timothy J. Casey, Rob Carey, Arizona State University, Graham Rossini, John and Christina Mayich and Seven anonymous players
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 4 of 7
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: on-record letters, ASU internal report, letter, school report
- Credits another outlet 1 of 7
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: The Athletic
- Unnamed sources 3 of 7
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this. Here: e.g. “Seven anonymous Sun Devils”
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 29, 01:39 UTC by Fox News, crediting The Athletic, naming its source. First document in the first report, from Fox News (letter).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning coverage omits that law enforcement is already investigating the workout. NBC News reports that ASU police are investigating the collapse. County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said her office will review the matter after that work ends. Fox News does not mention police or prosecutors. Left-leaning coverage is more complete on that legal track, so the leave can look like an internal sports decision instead of a step taken while a criminal file is open.
Right-leaning coverage also carries a championship line that left-leaning coverage leaves out. Fox News reports players saying Powers told them they were "closer to making the Frozen Four because of the workout." NBC News quotes him only as calling it "just a little heat stroke."
How many minutes after Mayich fell was 911 called, and did that interval match ASU's own heat protocol?
Bottom line
Read Fox News and Powers' leave is a hockey-program stability move; read NBC News and the same collapse is already with ASU police and the county attorney.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Greg Powers was placed on paid administrative leave
- The outside trainer admitted forgetting a water break and said he did not drink water during combat missions
- Tim Ziesel did not have a contract with the university
- Outdoor workouts before Aug. 20 last around 15 minutes before going back inside
- The family said leaving an assistant who is good friends with Powers in charge means the leave does not solve the problem
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets framed the case as a preventable coaching failure and an inadequate university self-investigation that still leaves players exposed. NBC News quoted Carey saying coaches “did nothing right, literally nothing” and that “what should have been a very preventable workout problem” left Mayich with “almost no chance of recovery,” and reported the parents’ and players’ demand that involved coaches go on leave “while an independent investigation gets to the truth” because coaches “decide our playing time, scholarship levels, and roster status.” The Guardian and NBC stressed a missing cold-water tub, Ziesel’s lack of a university contract, Powers’s alleged description of the collapse as “just a little heat stroke,” and Carey’s objection that leaving an assistant who is “good friends with the head coach” in place “needs to change.” They also highlighted Gress’s line that “ASU should not be left to investigate its own conduct and decide whether anyone should be held accountable.”
The Right View
Fox News framed the story around players risking their careers to contest ASU’s review and around the education chairs’ demand for an investigator who “answers to the Board, not ASU.” Coverage quoted the 26-page letter’s claim that players “should not have to choose between telling the truth about August 20 and keeping what we have worked our whole lives for,” that the only water break lasted a few seconds after a bear crawl, and that Powers downplayed a “little heat stroke” while saying the team was “closer to making the Frozen Four because of the workout.” Fox reported Gress’s statement that “seven players who were on that field have raised serious questions that ASU’s own review does not answer” and Angius’s warning that student-athletes “should never have to choose between telling the truth and protecting their scholarship,” presenting Powers’s paid leave as a move “to provide stability for the hockey program” while the investigation continues.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is that alleged safety lapses made the heatstroke preventable and that partial leave is inadequate while staff who control roster status remain—backed by Carey’s “did nothing right” charge, the parents’ statement that keeping Powers’s “best friend of the last decade” in the locker room “doesn’t solve the problem,” and the players’ contradictions of hydration, equipment, and supervision. Right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is that an investigator independent of ASU is required because, as Gress put it, the university’s own review “does not answer” questions from players who were on the field, with paid leave treated as a limited stability step rather than resolution. The central unresolved tension is whose account of the August 20 session—ASU’s report on temperature, water, medical gear, and the post-collapse response, or the players’ letter alleging a longer, under-equipped, poorly monitored workout—is accurate, and whether removing only the head coach separates witnesses from those who still determine playing time and scholarships.
7 sources
- Parents of hospitalized Arizona State hockey player call for coaches to be placed on leave
- Arizona State hockey coach on leave after practice that left player fighting for life
- ASU hockey coach is put on leave as hospitalized player remains on life support
- Arizona State hockey players ask school president to place coach on leave after workout left teammate in coma
- Arizona lawmakers demand independent investigation into ASU hockey workout that left player in coma
- Arizona State hockey coach placed on paid leave as investigation into tragic workout continues
- ASU hockey coach put on leave after player collapsed during workout
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