Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini said last week that the ASU men’s hockey program was aiming to have an interim head coach in place this week.
According to multiple sources, ASU has had conversations with several potential candidates over the last several days. Most believe the Sun Devils will announce a new head coach sometime in the next 48 to 72 hours.
ASU split its season-opening weekend at Lindenwood and returns home Friday night to host Holy Cross for a two-game series.
Greg Powers was placed on leave last week following an anonymous letter that seven players sent to the university in response to its internal review of the Aug. 20 workout during which Matthew Mayich collapsed. Mayich remains hospitalized at an Arizona neurological facility in a coma, and his family’s attorney has said there is little chance of recovery. The family has also said, through its attorney, that it wanted an independent review of the circumstances surrounding the workout.
After Powers was placed on leave, associate head coach Mike Corbett ran the bench this past weekend alongside assistants Alex Hicks and Jimmy Mullin. Mayich family attorney Rob Carey blasted that decision, maintaining that players still did not have the freedom to speak with investigators without fear of retaliation because other members of the coaching staff remained in place.
On Friday, ASU asked Scott Bales, the former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, to lead an independent review.
From what I’m hearing, some of the coaches ASU has spoken with — though not all of them — were not necessarily interested in the job if it was strictly an interim position. At least one candidate indicated that he would want carte blanche to hire his own staff, and a contract to become the permanent head coach.
Powers, it’s worth noting, has not been fired. He’s been placed on paid administrative leave.
