Idk if this is a pivot or if they're just putting up podcasts on their channel. Tons of channels do that. They never get views because most people listen on apple or spotify or something similar. It just catches some of the people not on there. They're still pulling good views (20-30k for normal training videos). Sam Parsons did a recent strength routine video with 144k views on it. Seems like an overreaction to me.
Dude, get over all this "stole his name" and "villains" sh-t. It's pathetic at this point. The reason that the group/brand was popular and selling gear had everything to do with Drew's performance and the overall personality and social media presence of the group, and nothing to do with Tom. Yes, "Tinman" was his nickname but so what. The brand equity was due to the runners and he makes his living from the coaching business.
In case it's relevant, I was coached by Tom remotely for probably 18 months and spent a good hour on the phone with him at one point (he talks incessantly) though most of the interaction was email and text. I generally have goodwill towards him and wish him the best but (a) his training program is sound but is cookie-cutter and isn't individually tailored basically at all other than paces and volume, (b) relating to the last point, I don't think there's any evidence that he can and should be the coach of a successful pro group, and (c) though I know I'll get flamed by the usual right-wingers on here, his IG basically became a Tucker Carlson-inspired, conspiracy-theory mishmash during Covid. It sounds like the latter became hard to stomach for the group, though I don't have any sense that that was what caused the break, which was due to the mediocre coaching.
You are leaving out a lot of relevant information. Tom coached most of them for free for at least a year, then only received an extremely small salary of $2,000 per month (or $24,000 per year). Tom even moved his family across the country to coach the group. Drew didn't even tell Tom the decision to fire him, someone else did it via phone.
They plagiarized his training program and sold it as hammer and axe training, giving Tom no proceeds from the sales of the plans. Tom also got no money from the shirts sold that were bearing his name. Tom asked them politely to stop using his name after they departed and they said NO - very disrespectful.
The tinman athletes were lazy and didn't do everything they were supposed to do. This is what caused all the injuries. Tinman Elite's best years were with Tom, they haven't come close to matching the success since.
They could have easily changed the name of the group to Hammer and Axe, they were already selling training plans with that name and their same logo. Why would they want to continue using a name of a coach they fired? A lot of good that Tinman brand recognition is doing for them now, they struggle to get more than 2000 views on their videos.
They came across as snobby brats, very disrespectful. You can't complain about Tom's qualifications when they hired DREW'S MOMMY to be the coach. She learned everything she knew from Tom.
Haha. Are you going to start talking about Pan Am games medals or U20 next? Let’s talk real medals.
Hunter would give his left nut to have a commonwealth medal at this point. Pretty sure the biggest TME accomplishment to date is his USA indoor 2 mile win from the slow heat. Clearly you're a TME fanboy or something. How many olympians or national record holders are on TME? Crickets. Washed up babies mascarding as professionals half-assedly on social media until their gear-only contracts expire.
Haha. Are you going to start talking about Pan Am games medals or U20 next? Let’s talk real medals.
Hunter would give his left nut to have a commonwealth medal at this point. Pretty sure the biggest TME accomplishment to date is his USA indoor 2 mile win from the slow heat. Clearly you're a TME fanboy or something. How many olympians or national record holders are on TME? Crickets. Washed up babies mascarding as professionals half-assedly on social media until their gear-only contracts expire.
I'm aware he can't actually win a commonwealth medal but he would gladly take anything close to it in equivalence and at this point and it's not like Drew would even be competitive for a medal at the Commonwealth Games, even at his peak to date.
The whole group is pathetic. They are the Detroit Pistons of the 2023 pro running scene (the Pistons are 2-29 and have lost 28 straight games).
Normally I root for the underdog but the way TME fired Tom and stole his name made them villains in my mind.
Drew handled the situation poorly imo. On several podcasts he essentially blames the team's poor performances all on Schwartz's coaching. Very immature. On the Citius Mag podcast he sounded like a kid complaining about having a bad high school coach. Just came off very immature. Compared the TME coaching split to the NFL, saying something like 'if the coach in the NFL sucks at his job he's gonna get fired...look at our results—they were terrible.' Not that my opinion matters, but I'd respect the situation a whole lot more if you just owned up to the fact that you had to make a tough choice and wanted to move on, but there's always excuses about how you all just had to get rid of him because your performances weren't where you wanted them to be. No responsibility or accountability taken without a buuttttt. And I don't think there'll ever be a good justification for them keeping the name when they've come out multiple times saying they didn't even like the guy and fired him. To say it's anything other than a brand thing is just bs.
Tinman needs to coach a major D1 distance program where he is measured against other top programs. Can his college team win the NCAA cross county championship? Can they medal at the indoor and outdoor NCAA's? How many NCAA athletes can he send to the Olympic Trials?
i was a freshman in 2017-2018 and the fast upperclassmen had met him and posted photos on insta meeting him. He was the coolest and fastest. Tinman elite was THE group for hs kids. I raced a kid wearing a tinman hat a a dual once. Their presence with my generation was crazy. We all kinda grew up and I don’t think he had that same luster for the new kids, the younger guys I work with don’t know Drew Hunter like that.
The whole group is pathetic. They are the Detroit Pistons of the 2023 pro running scene (the Pistons are 2-29 and have lost 28 straight games).
Normally I root for the underdog but the way TME fired Tom and stole his name made them villains in my mind.
Drew handled the situation poorly imo. On several podcasts he essentially blames the team's poor performances all on Schwartz's coaching. Very immature. On the Citius Mag podcast he sounded like a kid complaining about having a bad high school coach. Just came off very immature. Compared the TME coaching split to the NFL, saying something like 'if the coach in the NFL sucks at his job he's gonna get fired...look at our results—they were terrible.' Not that my opinion matters, but I'd respect the situation a whole lot more if you just owned up to the fact that you had to make a tough choice and wanted to move on, but there's always excuses about how you all just had to get rid of him because your performances weren't where you wanted them to be. No responsibility or accountability taken without a buuttttt. And I don't think there'll ever be a good justification for them keeping the name when they've come out multiple times saying they didn't even like the guy and fired him. To say it's anything other than a brand thing is just bs.
If Drew fired Tom and hired an accomplished coach like Broe or Troutman then I would have understood 100% that he felt Tom got him as far as Tom was capable.
But then he hired someone less qualified, who only knew anything about the sport from Tom himself. It proves Drew is not serious about running fast.
And then Drew's interviews after the split show he is just an immature brat. I'll cheer for Eric Holt instead.
The whole group is pathetic. They are the Detroit Pistons of the 2023 pro running scene (the Pistons are 2-29 and have lost 28 straight games).
Normally I root for the underdog but the way TME fired Tom and stole his name made them villains in my mind.
Dude, get over all this "stole his name" and "villains" sh-t. It's pathetic at this point. The reason that the group/brand was popular and selling gear had everything to do with Drew's performance and the overall personality and social media presence of the group, and nothing to do with Tom. Yes, "Tinman" was his nickname but so what. The brand equity was due to the runners and he makes his living from the coaching business.
In case it's relevant, I was coached by Tom remotely for probably 18 months and spent a good hour on the phone with him at one point (he talks incessantly) though most of the interaction was email and text. I generally have goodwill towards him and wish him the best but (a) his training program is sound but is cookie-cutter and isn't individually tailored basically at all other than paces and volume, (b) relating to the last point, I don't think there's any evidence that he can and should be the coach of a successful pro group, and (c) though I know I'll get flamed by the usual right-wingers on here, his IG basically became a Tucker Carlson-inspired, conspiracy-theory mishmash during Covid. It sounds like the latter became hard to stomach for the group, though I don't have any sense that that was what caused the break, which was due to the mediocre coaching.
None of that justifies how they took advantage of a man with obvious social awareness issues. Classic situation of immature kids running the program with no oversight whatsoever. You’d think adidas would be pissed but they probably sold shoes to high schoolers out of it.
Looking very briefly at the channel, it would appear their audience wants to watch them train, not interview people.
usually this kind of a content pivot from them is a subtle indication most the team is injured
You'd think bringing in new members will help hold them over on content for a bit, though we've seen 0 on that front. Essentially I think it's just low effort from their end, but also losing context of where they stand in the US distance scene:
They wanted and intended to be the cool, down to earth, blue collar bridge that helps draw in high school and college kids' interest. Admittedly the birth of some other channels has impacted that (though if originally you had the hold on the market, its your fault for letting it slip), but bringing out meditation bowls, unaffordable TME necklaces, and expensive designs for adidas tops with pseudo-deep explanations for a bunch of trees or an axe on a tshirt pushed them away from those that care about them
then you add in the constant underperformances then you add in the roster changing a lot then you add in the Tom Schwartz drama then you add in the coach change with Cory Leslie and then to Drew's mom then you add in the failed first attempt at a womens team
Years ago we started with some young kids drawing 'TinMan' in pen on white tshirts to go compete at National Cross, now we have adults coached by a highschool coach, in overpriced clothing who shy away from their once thriving YouTube channel, yet thinking they are still on the same mission
'Pushing the sport forward'. I would love a straight answer on how they believe they are still doing that now. *FYI - 3months since TME posted a video that wasn't a podcast or 9mins of Reed stretching in his house. 6months since TME posted a team training video