ASU Coach Greg Powers Addresses Media After Matthew Mayich Tragedy

 The Arizona State University Sun Devils are in a precarious position thanks to the controversial choices of head coach Greg Powers. Powers hired a former Green Beret, Timothy Ziesel, to lead the team in a 45-minute workout in the heat. 

A workout that resulted in St. Louis Blues prospect Matthew Mayich collapsing after the workout finished.

 Powers watched Ziesel take the team through the drills, which included push-ups, flutter kicks, bear crawls, squats, and sprints. 

Ziesel assigned additional exercises to the players, which included running, which induced vomiting in a few players. Mayich would eventually collapse after showing signs of struggle, first while performing the bear crawl, and teammates described him as disoriented. After the exercise concluded, he nearly fell while standing. The intensity of the workouts continued, as players were instructed to carry their teammates across the field. The training ended with an exercise that was a relay that required them to sprint with a medicine ball. 

Mayich would collapse afterwards, falling on a medicine ball, where he struggled to get back on his feet. 

Greg Power Addresses Media After Mayich's Collapse

With news of ASU investigating itself, head coach Greg Powers addressed the media, where he said very little and wouldn't address Mayich. 

But he maintains he's the right guy for the job: 

There's obviously some things that have been said about me and I respect anything anybody has to say. But I believe I am the right guy, and 20 years of a body of work and building a program, almost 20 years now, I still believe that, Powers said during a National Collegiate Hockey Conference news conference.

This was after the ASU Hockey team staff decided to ignore the university's heat illness policy to ensure the safety of all the players on the team, including the Blues prospect, Mayich. 

At the beginning of September, Mayich's family attorney Robert Carey said that there wasn't a chance of recovery for Mayich after his heatstroke. 

A coma indicates deep unconsciousness and recovery is possible. His body ceased functioning in a fundamental way, and this condition is irreversible, Carey said Wednesday in an email to KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Powers has been coaching the team since the 2015-16 season and has never won a championship, with a record of 165-183-25. 

If this isn't a damning record, I don't know what is. He's failed to build a winning team in the last decade and has made careless decisions, hiring Tim Ziesel, who trained the team with reckless abandon. 

The right guy for the job might be someone else, like Jay Woodcroft, who has been out of work since the Oilers fired him.