The first season the team practiced on a grass field with cones for a track and ran their intervals by feel. There was no budget line for the program at all.
Start with the parents
Before there were uniforms, there was a parent meeting. Not a fundraiser — a meeting. Who can drive. Who can time. Who knows somebody with a van. The roster of adults got built before the roster of athletes did, and that is the part most new coaches skip.
You are not recruiting athletes in year one. You are recruiting families.
Make the season visible
Every practice got a photo. Every meet got a results post. Not for the athletes — for the kids in the hallway who had never thought about running. Ninety kids showed up in year four because the program looked like something worth joining.