A voice of reason. Lots of chirping teens with no sense of real life are making this more than it is - just a coaching change. If you don’t perform, you get fired. And Tammy is a lunatic. Team TME on this one.
former client. wrote:
I'll try to be another voice of reason here. I'm a masters runner and worked on and off with Tom over the last 10 years, maybe 4 years worth in total. Most interaction was by email but also spoke on the phone with him (very few texts). His prices have gone up as he got famous: I'm pretty sure I always paid him between $100-125 per month. I'd work with him for up to a year, sort of lose touch with him, then decide that I liked the structure of having someone else write my training program for the rough cost of a gym membership so would start back up with him.
My thoughts in no particular order:
1. I think his training philosophy makes sense for younger, newer and masters runners for sure. An emphasis on tempo/CV type training, less speed/intervals, no hero workouts (keep the ball rolling) are all great things imo to build up without overdoing it. Like others, I've become less convinced that his approach makes sense for world class runners (esp the lack of individualization and the lack of pushing the envelope to get that last 1-2%), but I don't claim to be the expert on how pro runners should train.
2. I don't blame Drew for wanting to move on. He hasn't run up to expectations, which may or may not be Tom's fault, so it's natural to want to make a change. Lots of athletes do, and time will tell whether it will help or not. Regardless of all the drama, I have no doubt that this was driven by training/results and not the dramatic sideshow stuff like politics.
3. We don't know the other side of the story, but it sounds like Drew should have driven to Tom's house and told him in person. Just given the 9 year relationship plus the relationship with the mother. I don't think a phone call was a felony-level offense, but it would have been more classy to do it in person. Something a 23 year old might not have known and should now know. Otoh, someone speculated that Tom wasn't making himself available, so maybe Drew tried. Still, seems like Tom would have been findable.
4. Other than terminating over the phone, I think TME has handled this pretty well. Sounds like both sides agreed to keep it quiet, so it's not their fault the website and name are unchanged, and since it got public TME has been very diplomatic and polite in its statements. I never met or interacted with Tammy, but she has come across, well, a little frenzied and out there. I get that this is emotional and will give her a pass, but this would have died down earlier if she hadn't started launching broadsides on here.
5. TME should re-brand. I suspect that Tom has sufficient prior-use to win any trademark fight (registration is not the be all end all and can be challenged), but more importantly I think it would be the classy thing to do. I do agree with a lot of posters who think that the "brand" was built more on the runners, esp Drew, than on Tom, i.e., the average high school kid who follows Tinman Elite on youtube and IG probably doesn't know or care who the coach is or what "Tinman" is supposed to mean. But, still, Tom is Tinman and it makes sense to use another name.
6. Tom is a bit socially awkward, long-winded and definitely dogmatic. I don't think that disqualifies him as a coach, but I know that can wear on people.
7. As others have said, if he was foisting anti-covid, pro-Trump, stop-the-steal conspiracy stuff on his athletes, that would wear out his welcome along with the other stuff. I would feel the same about some Bernie Bro doing the same. As I said, Tom is dogmatic and a bit of a know-it-all, so it doesn't honestly surprise me that he would cross into this territory. Pro/online coaching is still a service/client business and let's just say that Tom's recent fame may have led him to forget that.
8. Tom owes as much or more to Drew than Drew does to Tom. Drew was and still is an amazing talent, and good for Tom for coaching him well. But let's face it, Drew would have been a big success under a lot of coaches and Tom is now famous and attracted a whole bunch of business because of the success that Drew had. That's true for a lot of coaches of course, but I say this only in reaction to some who seem to think that Drew owes Tom everything and that the benefits were all one-direction.
9. The attention Tom gave to remote athletes like me declined over the years. I think he ended up being spread pretty thin as he got more successful and took on more clients, remote and elite. I don't actually hold that against him: I didn't begrudge him making a living and I'm not sure how much "coaching" you're really going to get from any online coach.
10. I think most of the people piling on TME were probably people who didn't like TME in the first place.
11. Tom is going to be fine. TME will do its thing. Hopefully Drew builds on his 13:17. I'm still a fan of both guys. If someone asked me about signing up with Tom, I'd still say to go for it just so long as they know they aren't going to get a ton of attention.