IF there is an Australian Rugby Union succession plan for the Wallabies coaching position, it is now in tatters after the man expected to take over from Robbie Deans, Ewen McKenzie, recommitted to the Queensland Reds until the end of 2014.
Even before last year's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, in which the Wallabies lost to Ireland in the pool round and only just scraped by the Springboks before being eliminated by the All Blacks, the ARU had reappointed Deans as head coach through to the end of next year's series against the British and Irish Lions.
McKenzie, who took the Reds to the Super Rugby title last season after earlier coaching NSW to two finals, is logically the next Wallabies coach but with the ARU making no commitment to him, he has decided to remove all uncertainty about his future at the Reds by announcing he will remain at
Ballymore at least until the end of 2014.
"It's pretty straightforward," McKenzie explained.
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"We only know what we know right now.
"What we know right now is we've got the Queensland situation. I don't know anything other than.
"We never know what's going to happen till it happens. We've got no control of that."
McKenzie said if he did what the media has done and assumed he might inherit the Wallabies next year, he might be committing to a totally imaginary ARU timetable.
"There's the theory and the reality," he said.
"The reality is that you could set yourself up around that date and then not have a job. In the end I love coaching here (at the Reds)."
McKenzie was unable to predict what might happen in the event of Deans's Wallabies being beaten by the Lions and the ARU deciding on an immediate change of coach to give the new incumbent time to make adjustments before the 2015 World Cup.
"Anything could happen. One thing I know about coaching . . . you've got to be Johnny-on-the-spot, the right bloke at the right time. It's always about timing."
McKenzie's decision means the triumphant triumvirate he has formed with QRU chairman Rod McCall and chief executive Jim Carmichael since late 2009 will remain intact at least for another three Super Rugby campaigns, assuming McCall is re-elected next year.
The three were pitched together at a time when the Reds were languishing near the bottom of the table and the QRU was in such dire financial straits it had to be bailed out by the ARU.
McCall said the QRU had not sought a quick fix, but had put in place strategies to rebuild Queensland rugby to the point where its future was not reliant on the Reds winning Super Rugby titles.
"That's what we've started. We've had some good success and we want to finish it," McCall said. "If I was chairman of the ARU, I know who I'd want as Australian coach, but that's a personal opinion. As chairman of the QRU, I know who I want as (Reds) coach for as long as possible, so that's what we've done - shore that up. We can't run our business, our operations with too great an eye on what someone else is going to decide in the future."
Seemingly, that applies not just to the ARU but also to last year's brilliant playmaker Quade Cooper, who comes off his one-year ARU contract at the end of this season and already is the subject of new speculation he will switch to rugby league.
Carmichael made it clear the Reds were not interested in doing just a one-year deal with him. "We want him to be part of something that's more than just year-to-year and the speculation that gets created around where he might be."
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