Rob Key is optimistic about England's chances of attracting a high-class field of coaching candidates and hopes to have a Test specialist in place for the first game of the summer.
Key has hit the ground running in his new role as managing director of men's cricket, announcing the appointment of Ben Stokes as red-ball captain on Thursday and advertising for two head coaches to lead the five-day and limited-overs sides.
He has also signalled his intention to bring back the role of an independent national selector, a post abolished by his predecessor Ashley Giles.
With coaching interviews planned to begin on May 9 and the international summer beginning with a Lord's Test against New Zealand on June 2, there is precious little wriggle room.
The likes of Australian Simon Katich have been linked with the job. Gary Kirsten, Graham Ford, Stephen Fleming and Mahela Jayawardene are also names which have been floated, with Key already having begun a fact-finding mission that he hopes will help him land the right person.
"I haven't spoken to anyone yet, nobody is out of the running so far," he said.
"Every morning I wake up and read about who I've spoken to and all the names you read about would be very good if they got the chance to do it. I've got to work out who the best is.
"I'm optimistic - although it's not a sure thing - that we'll have a coach in place for that first Test."
Less immediate, but no less important, is addressing the issue of selection. The decision to concentrate those powers in the hands of former head coach Chris Silverwood backfired and Key sees a return to the previous method.
Key himself may take on those duties in the short-term, while the groundwork is laid.
"I want to go back to a selector, but I haven't got an answer now in my head for who that person is," he said.
"It's a very, very important job but it's a tricky job. All I can say is that we won't rush it to get that person in place. I'd rather have someone really good at it than rush it and have someone who's not.
"Until then, I'm pretty happy with the process that we'll have in place and with the people that are already involved in selection. If you need someone to point the gun at, you can point it at me, that doesn't really bother me."
On a personal level, Key is enthusiastic about his newly powerful position in the English game - one which he embraced at the expense of an upwardly mobile broadcasting career.
"I was having a good life, yeah, cruising around," he said of his previous job on television.
"Nasser (Hussain), (Michael) Atherton, myself - we'd all sit around saying they should do this, they should do that. We're all stubborn and think we're right so when the chance came, I thought, 'now I actually have some skin in the game'.
"There's not much else I know other than cricket, really. It's what I love, it's what I talk about all the time and it's a chance to make a difference.
"English cricket is in a state of flux to say the least and that's what intrigues me about the job."
Australian Associated Press
