Athlete collapsed during intense workout in extreme heat. Family is criticizing ASU investigation

An attorney representing the family of an Arizona State University hockey player who collapsed during a workout is criticizing the way the university is handling an investigation into what happened.

The player collapsed during what’s being described as a "military-style workout" about two weeks ago; he was taken to the hospital — and his lawyer says he likely will not recover.

Katie Strang is senior investigative writer with the Athletic and has been following this. Strang joined The Show to talk more about it.

Education

Attorney calls for investigation after ASU hockey player collapses during workout in extreme heat

Katherine Davis-Young

An ASU hockey player who became unresponsive during an outdoor training session in extreme heat nearly two weeks ago remains hospitalized and may not recover, his family’s attorney said.

Listen • 0:56

Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: Katie, good morning.

KATIE STRANG: Good morning.

MARK BRODIE: So, let’s talk a little bit about what this workout entailed, because as you report, this was not something that like a coach or a strength trainer was leading. This is somebody who is not affiliated with the university?

KATIE STRANG: That’s right. It’s a non-university employee. It’s someone that has previous military service who has led these types of workouts with at least one other university that we’ve identified in the past, and really I think prioritized like this military-style rigor in, I guess, toward the objective of team bonding. But obviously this workout was extremely strenuous and punishing and had a devastating result.

MARK BRODIE: And took place in August, when, you know, Phoenix is famously not a great place to be doing lots of strenuous work outside.

KATIE STRANG: That’s right. And the training session took place August 20, which was the first day of Arizona State’s fall semester. So, that’s the earliest that NCAA rules allow hockey teams to start formal activities.

And on the day that this happened, the temperature in Tempe, to my understanding in our reporting, was 86 degrees at 6:51 a.m., 51% humidity, no wind, according to the Weather Underground website. And you have to imagine this happened on a track near a field, and Tempe Fire Medical Rescue were dispatched to the Sun Angel Stadium at 8:31 for a heat-related illness, to take all that into account.

MARK BRODIE: Right. So, OK, so what is the family’s lawyer saying about what they don’t like, how do they not like what ASU is doing here? What’s the problem?

KATIE STRANG: Sure. I think, you know, one of the major concerns is how this investigation is being conducted. Now, I want to point out that the athletic director actually on the Burns & Gambo radio show recently had said that he wanted to make this very critical distinction that this was not an investigation, they were not suggesting that someone did something wrong, but that this was simply a review.

I mean, I think the lawyer for the Mayich family, one, takes issue with that characterization, and that at the very least there should be an investigation considering the devastating results of this workout and what happened. But the fact that, you know, the university is using someone internal to conduct this investigation, and that, you know, typically, you know, I think the best rules of standards and practice is generally that, you know, you want to have some level of separation and to remove any potential conflict.

So that, you know, oftentimes you see schools use external firms or third parties. So, I think there is the initial concern that, you know, this is an investigation being performed by someone internal. And then also that, you know, the coaching staff has not been placed on administrative leave, which is seen as sort of standard and routine in these situations.

You know, typically when there is an investigation of this nature, you want to separate certain parties to the event from witnesses of that event. And so, you know, I think the attorney expressed concern that that was not happening in this situation.

MARK BRODIE: Is there a concern that they might, like, for example, players might be reluctant to describe what was going on during that workout, maybe in the moments leading up to to this incident, knowing that the coach who authorized this person to come in and lead the workout is still the coach and still sort of seeing, overseeing day-to-day operations of the program?

KATIE STRANG: Absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, for players, first and foremost, I think their concern is for their teammate, and I think they’re devastated for what’s what the family is going through right now.

But then, you know, you have to also imagine like this this is, you know, a coach that controls their scholarship, their livelihood, potentially like their NHL prospects. And so, I think there is a very legitimate concern that these players could have in the potential implications of speaking in any way that could potentially warrant more scrutiny on the coaching staff or anything beyond that.

MARK BRODIE: Has the university said anything about why the coaching staff is still in place and not on leave at the moment?

KATIE STRANG: Not really. I have asked the university if there’s been any sort of instruction about whether the coaching staff can address the situation with the players, or if there’s any prohibition about that level of communication, whether anything’s off limits. And there hasn’t really been any firm response that has directly addressed that issue.

MARK BRODIE: And do we have any sense of when the review, as the AD is calling it, might be done, or what like if it will be released when it is finished?

KATIE STRANG: Nope, I don’t think they’ve given any indication of a timeline or like any sort of commitment to transparency.

MARK BRODIE: OK. And in terms of the family’s lawyer that we’ve been talking about, like are they like is there anything else that that they’re able to do? Like they can obviously call for an investigation. I would imagine they can’t like start one on their own to some extent, right?

KATIE STRANG: Well, I do believe that there is going to be a fact-finding mission conducted on behalf of on behalf of the law firm that has been retained by the family. And, you know, the attorney has been very vocal about what he has already heard from people with knowledge of the workout, and that, you know, he has every reason to believe that this was grueling, onerous and dangerous.

And he has certainly stressed that they are going to make every effort to obtain any documents that are relevant to this investigation, whether that’s text messages, cellphone videos, any sort of contemporaneous statements, and that, you know, they are going to make sure that the university is aware of their sort of document preservation responsibilities.

MARK BRODIE: OK, we’ll have to see what happens with all that. That is Katie Strang, senior investigative writer with the Athletic. Katie, thank you.

KATIE STRANG: Thank you.