Overview
- The outdoor, military‑style dryland workout on Aug. 20 at ASU’s Joe Selleh Track left 21‑year‑old defenseman Matthew Mayich unconscious and hospitalized with a severe brain injury.
- Family attorneys say Mayich has “zero chance of recovery” and allege he showed distress during the session before collapsing, a claim repeated to multiple news outlets.
- Teammates and lawyers describe the roughly 50–60 minute session run by a non‑ASU instructor, Tim Ziesel, as intense and cadence‑driven with sprints, planks, push‑ups and bear crawls and reports that water breaks were limited.
- Arizona State has launched an internal review led by senior vice president James Rund and the ASU Police Department has opened a separate criminal assessment that has begun contacting players; the family is demanding an independent outside investigation and administrative leave for staff.
- The case spotlights broader safety issues for college athletics, including heat‑illness risk factors, the use of outside instructors, NCAA timing rules for preseason activity, and fears by athletes of retaliation that could hinder candid reporting of unsafe conditions.