If you were a new coach how would you approach coaching a losing team?

Guarantee them a full ride scholarship

First,

I think you need to develop a coaching philosophy based on your values and ask yourself why you want to coach.

This might help on the culture issue. Also check out the Positive Coaching Alliance.

http://www.wayofchampions.com/articles-by-jerry-lynch/build-a-strong-team-culture.html

The best I've seen is the coach from American Fork, Utah. Is it coach Timo? Anyway alot online, what it took, to get everyone on board with his program. Heck I would not even hesitate to try and speak with him. He loves the sport.

For recruiting, see if you can get the AD to let kids substitute a gym credit with mandatory XC/track. It'll get everyone out there, but that's better than no one.

Put out fliers throughout the school or the school's social media. Scout out the JV kids from football/soccer teams and encourage them to come out especially if they are benched or don't get to play.

If they are coming from farm communities, I'm sure you can find some kids who be willing or have talent/work ethic to come out for Cross. Watch the movie (based on true story) about XC kids from the farm in a small town in Cali? Can't remember the name right now...

Focus on individual successes. Teach the love of the sport and for one another. Build a team.

If they find value in what they are doing they will buy in.

I would not approach them.

Mcfarland USA

It's easier in running than in just about any other sport because losing doesn't fundamentally change the experience. Running can still be awesome, even if you're not really competitive. And let's be honest, none of us are truly competitive unless we find a pretty small pond. If you're outmatched in basketball, you never get to shoot. If you're outmatched in football, you get physically hurt. If you're outmatched in running...someone else finishes the race before you.

You need to basically create a culture of self-improvement, supported by the team. Ignore the competition until you're at a level where it matters. I coached a terrible team once and the kids had a great experience. They were excited by the fact that they improved personally. They couldn't compare themselves favorably to their opponents, so they compared themselves to their classmates who couldn't run a mile without stopping. I also got the team to do some road races, which helped them see that they really were faster than the vast majority of people out there.

The team never really got good, but I still count it as a success because many of the kids became lifelong runners. I used to see them getting together for 3 mile social runs during the off season without any involvement on my part. And I did find a couple diamonds in the rough, one of whom went on to be a 17 minute 5k runner (female).

The beauty of our sport is that you can come in 59th place for example and be happy. A young kid improving his time should feel like a winner.

I currently coach at the D1 level and recently began coaching a team this past XC season. Every year they were one of the last teams at the conference championship and regional meet. This trend stretched back over 20 years. Every. Single. Year.

In one season we became at the top of our conference in both the men's and women's side. Became regionally ranked and placed high on both sides. Are getting good recruits (couple girls running sub-4:50/10:40 out of HS/ boys running 4:14-18/sub 9:20), and are now in position to be a bubble team for NCAAs (close this year). Best seasons in over two decades.

So what changed? Well, of course the training had to change, but there was more to it than that. I made an effort to really believe in my team. Tons of one-on-one meetings with people when they needed it. Making an effort to speak to every single one of my athletes every day. Cheering on every single person on the team in a race or workout. Individualizing every single person's training plan going into the summer and through the season. Really encouraging group running even if some have to slow down/speed up. We let go of some people who weren't the best for the team culture and who didn't want to put in the full effort.

When I first came in, a lot of people told me how slow the process of changing a team culture can be. To an extent, I believe it. It always seems like an ongoing process and the moment you slack off is when it gets undermined. However, I feel like a lot of coaches try to ask the athletes to change the culture without themselves first leading the charge. A dysfunctional, low-self esteem group of college kids had a lot easier transition to success when they saw how involved their coach was this year.

Our team is one of the largest in the conference and also the largest in the school, so I get where you are coming from when it comes to unruly numbers. At the D1 level we get the extra-added benefit of having to deal with more big egos (yay). But you just have to try very hard to make a passionate, welcoming, motivational environment. That's what I sell to all my HS and JC recruits and a lot of them seem to really buy it. That's what I sell to my team and they bought in 110%. Our sport is very mental and relies on motivation. Losers have that stifled. You just gotta bring it out of them.