Broe applies blue collar work ethic at 'pressure-cooker' Wellesley

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

As an Olympic 5,000-meter finalist in 2004 and a 10-time national champion, Tim Broe’s distance running career was one of the most decorated in recent United States history. But it is as a high school coach where Broe, a native of East Peoria, Ill., has found his calling.

“Coaching is in my DNA,” said Broe, who was a student assistant as an athlete at the University of Alabama and a volunteer assistant at the University of Michigan.

“I think I’ve always been aware of that. I started off with my own training in college.”

Broe is now the boys and girls cross country and track and field coach at Wellesley MA, outside of Boston. Prior to that, he had gone back to East Peoria High to supplant the cross country coach in 2006. Thus began his journey into high school coaching. It’s a role that Broe, both tenacious and tender with his high school athletes, has fit into gracefully.

“I learned a lot from Carl Spina (at Saline MI) about being a good teammate,” said Broe, who served an assistant coach with the program for a year.

“Like when you have a bad race, just choke it down and don’t let it affect other people. For me, these things came naturally. But for some people, they don’t.”

In Wellesley, an affluent Boston suburb, Broe has been cast in an unlikely role: Mentor to scores of hard-driven youngsters, many of whom are being groomed for schools like Harvard and Yale.

“The thing I like about Broe is that he gives us goals that we almost laugh at, because they’re so high,” said Loren Andrews, a Wellesley senior.

“But as you start doing the work, you realize you might be able to do it. If he hadn’t come to our team, I don’t think we’d have realized our potential.”

In his first year as Wellesley’s girls cross country coach, Broe, keyed by soccer convert and NXN qualifier Maggie Donahue, led Wellesley to a fourth-place finish at NXR Northeast and a second-place finish at the Massachusetts All-State Championship (following a 14th-place finish the year before).

Now in his third season coaching boys cross country and track and field, Broe’s boys won the 2016 Massachusetts state championship and finished fifth at NXR Northeast (this year, the team was third at the state meet and 11th at NXR Northeast).

“It’s a very driven community,” Wellesley assistant Colin Corkery said. “The kids know how to work hard and learn that from their families. The culture lends itself well to cross country and track and field. ... Broe’s found the kids who want to work hard.”

Broe’s background contrasts greatly with those of his athletes. Growing up in a single-parent household with a mother who worked three jobs (and put herself through school) to raise two boys, he was a so-called “wild” kid who grew up in a trailer park.

“Did I have athletes in my family?” Broe asked. “No. Alcoholics. Smokers. My game plan was to be a house painter. I wasn’t upset that I didn’t get into a good college. I wasn’t expecting to go to Harvard.”

Broe willed himself to a college scholarship, winning two state cross country championships and qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals twice before enrolling at the University of Alabama. He endured four disappointing seasons as an athlete before crossing paths as a fifth-year senior with Australian teammate Mike Chettle, the son of famed Australian marathoner Dave Chettle.

“(Mike Chettle) said to me, ‘You’ve got so much talent and it’s just not happening,’” Broe said. “His dad shared his training logs. I said, ‘I’m going to teach myself and I’m going to do it my way.’”

Broe dropped his times from 14:07 in the 5,000 meters to 13:40 that season, and from 8:50 to 8:21 in the 3,000 steeplechase, winning an NCAA Championship.

Broe took the job at Wellesley in 2015, after his wife, who works for New Balance, initiated the move to the Boston area. 

“The school is a pressure-cooker,” Broe said. “I have kids who are crying because they didn’t get into Harvard.”

In response, Broe has raised the level of expectation in the cross country and track programs at Wellesley, but not without some levity.

“These kids don’t have the challenges the kids from East Peoria have,” Broe said. “The kids who come from the trailer park, like I did. But they’re still doing it, and that’s commendable.

“People say, ‘Privileged kids don’t want to work hard, they take things for granted.’ That’s absolutely not been the case.”

Based on 60-mile weeks for his seniors, Broe’s fostered a culture of hard work, with room for play.

“The coaches who are running their kids 80, 90 miles a week and saying ‘We’re going to be the toughest,’ I don’t agree with that approach.” Broe said. “I think you’re skipping steps to the result. I want my kids to enjoy the experience and our school ... I want to prove a point to any coach saying ‘Our way is the right way.’”

As a former Olympian, words from the straight-shooting Broe carry weight. But he’s endeared himself to the running community at Wellesley with his willingness to work closely with all of his athletes.

“One of my favorite things about Broe is that he puts together a plan for each athlete,” Andrews said. “He meets with each of us individually to talk about it.

“It’s not just about the kids scoring points. I think that’s why we’ve built this community of running here.”

Corkery recalled the team’s trip to Maine last summer, where Broe acted like “P.T. Barnum,” with games and laughs for the kids. 

“There was running, too, but it wasn’t just about running,” Corkery said.

Over a 10-year prep coaching career, Broe has learned along the way. He credits Spina with adjusting his training philosophy. 

“I used to say, ‘I want to get the result,’” Broe said. “I learned from (Spina) that the healthy approach is wait and see and put the work in on a daily basis.”

Broe called Donahue, who finished 60th at NXN, his most tenacious runner, lauding her grit. And despite his predilection for boys coaching, ‘So I can yell at ‘em and bust their chops, which I like,’ in terms of being good teammates, he sees girls as the best fit.

Broe’s optimism radiates outward, a bushel-full of surprises, and in Wellesley, for all its paradoxes, a place where he has found a niche.

“One of the things I think a lot of coaches struggle with is in setting expectations,” Broe said. “A kid may come up to a coach and say, ‘I want to break five minutes in the mile. They don’t realize that they may be able to run 4:40 in the mile. It will take a lot more work (but you can get there).

“When I first came here we had four kids breaking five minutes in the mile. Now we have 27. ... That’s what I love about (coaching). To see the kids who, for three years, are busting their butt every day to break five minutes as a senior. That’s what makes it worth it.”