Tim Rowberry sounds like someone would sound if they were pretending to coach Sifan Hassan (conspiracy theory alert)

I’m not typically a tinfoil-hat guy, but this absolutely checks out. It took me more than five minutes—maybe fifteen? But by that time I was utterly convinced that Rowberry couldn’t coach a donut to be delicious. I’d love to hear JG’s honest reflections on what is surely the weirdest “coach” interview he’s ever had.

I’ve seen him Coach her outside of Hayward and she takes what he says very seriously. He’s just not articulate

He should coach Kejelcha

I listened to the interview this morning, felt like something was off too. I like your theory.

Tim, we know you’re reading this thread. Pls post response.

I haven't listened to the LRC interview, but I did listen to his interview on the "Eighth Lane Endurance" podcast a few months ago and had a similar impression. I was ready to get lots of deep insights into a program I know nothing about, but after listening for an hour I was a bit perplexed about the whole thing.

He definitely came across more like a part-time / high school coach than a power player in pro coaching. This is probably just a lack of polish from never being (officially) part of a pro organization.

Interesting that he didn’t seem to prescribe a certain style of training, rather some kind of Frankenstein’s monster of workouts/methodologies he’s read about or talked with other coaches about. Makes me believe that it must be highly personalized and non-transferable or something that could be systematized. It’s hard to argue with results though, even if it’s the biggest all-around talent in the current generation he’s working with.

When you're on the stuff Hassan is, the training doesn't matter.

This is true that Alberto still is close with those at Nike and is still helping to coach professional runners remotely.

Or is it that running coaches are way overrated and acting like you have the magic formula is what makes people believe they are great coaches. When really everyone is doing basically the same things with variations.

Hi! Tim's sister here. What I don't think is coming across, because of his modest communication style, is his total relentless dedication to Sifan's training over the last 5-6 years. There is no mystery. He has made his life about coaching her, which has it's positives and negatives from my POV. I've never seen someone so focused on someone else's success, and it has paid off for her. She's an incredible athlete, but you shouldn't undervalue that constant focused support.

Oh, stop. As someone very close to the situation, he’s who he says he is. He’s definitely 100% doing what he says he’s doing: coaching Sifan.
This is one of the things about this forum that really bothers me. Some guy in Cleveland or whatever listens to a podcast about two people he’s never met, and then forms an opinion. Complete buffoons here take it as fact- not opinion/conspiracy theory. That misinformation then gets propagated in perpetuity. It’s ridiculous. The thing is- it’s over a multitude of subjects- from finance to athletics to relationships. Take ANYTHING you read here with a hefty dose of salt.

OK, fine. Should I believe Tim’s “sister,” who just posted on an account registered TODAY, is actually posting in this thread? I’d like to, but you’re exactly right—I can’t believe some anonymous person on the internet. I can choose to believe you are “ close to the situation”, but there’s still a good chance you’re not.

Personally, I would still tend to believe Tim is actually coaching Sifan. My theory is only that: a theory, with only like a 1% probability in my mind. But I decided to share it because I think it’s interesting, and I felt like Tim’s interview was unique and thought-provoking. Can you kill me for that?

I legit thought Tim Rowburry was a made up person.

Well, I'm a public person. If you told me a random word I'd tweet it if you need proof. Since this is about my brother I decided to post using my professional name.

Not something that would ever happen. Dropping Salazar and moving on doesn't move the needle AT ALL for a company like NIKE. Illegally keeping him on and...paying him under the table? Yeah that could potentially damage the company in a meaningful way.

What I took from it is that the athlete makes the coach, and running training isn't that complicated.

Everything I read on Letsrun forums I take as 100% fact. You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?

Meh. It was an interesting interview despite some pretty poor questions and no offense to Gault be he never had followup questions. It seemed like Gault was reading a question list someone else wrote…?

The questions for him on the Bad Boy Running podcast were better in my opinion last month

I actually learned a lot from the interview. I don't think anyone knew she was sick leading up to Tokyo last year. That would help explain her poor performance. Regarding her workouts: It sounds like they are constantly tweaking her schedule based on her fatigue level from long runs and/or workouts. And of course, as he pointed out, it hasn't been all success, as the year after the olympics was a disaster. But it sounds like the first priority in 2024 was the marathon, and the track came second.

And of course, the inevitable doping questions. I can see why coaches rarely do interviews like this. It's kind of like "when did you stop beating your wife"? No matter how you answer, the accusation lingers and the overriding takeaway is that Hassan has been very successful because she has been able to cheat and not get caught. I expect no less from the garbage that runs this website.