Armchair coaches better have their resumes ready.

The Swift Current Broncos are now actively looking for the right person or people to run their team.

After seven seasons at the helm, Mark Lamb has left his job with the Broncos to coach the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners. That doesn't mean the Broncos will look to replace him with another combined Coach/GM.

"I would say that we have multiple different scenarios that we would like to see," said Broncos chairman Liam Choo-Foo. "It will be somewhat dependent on what the candidate pool brings to us. We don't want to close down any options right now if the right people are available to us."

One of the biggest perceived obstacles to splitting the coach and general manager jobs is the cost of hiring two qualified people instead of one. That isn't discouraging the board from exploring the possibility.

"There certainly is a financial implication if we split the jobs," Choo-Foo said. "In one of our recent discussions I think it was fairly unanimous amongst the board that we find the right people to do the right job at the right time and the right place. If that costs us a little bit of extra money to do it that's the cost of doing business."

The jobs have been combined for most of the thirty years since the Broncos returned from Lethbridge. From coaching to roster management and directing the off-ice operations it can be an all-consuming job. 

“I never knew anything different,” Lamb said. “I think you can do it but I think it’s a real possibility we are going to split it up. But timewise and stuff like that you’ve just got to use your people around you and you’ve got to be very organized. The bottom line is you do have to work hard.”

Often a first thought when there is an opening in any organization is to look internally.

"I think we would say that right now it's pretty open," Choo-Foo said. "We believe we have very strong people in place within the organization and they'll receive due consideration as will all other candidates. It's not selective in that it's guaranteed to be internal, but it certainly does not preclude anyone internal."

Possibilities from within the organization include associate coach Ryan Smith who was a coach and general manager in both the SJHL and MJHL. Smith built a championship team in Manitoba but only has one year of WHL coaching experience.

The coaching staff also includes former NHL player Jamie Heward who has now twice been pegged by Hockey Canada to help guide one of their U17 teams.

Swift Current also has one of the longest tenured head scouts in the league with their assistant general manager and director of player personnel Jamie Porter. 

Lamb has worked directly with all the internal candidates and has close connections with people all throughout the hockey world. He is offering up his support to the board as they search for his replacements.

“We’re going to work together on it,” Lamb said. “We’ve put all our ideas together on which direction. We’re going to take names; we’re going to go through it… we’ve had a plan for a long time here so it’s not going to be a knee-jerk reaction for what we want to put in place here.”

"We try to make use of every asset possible," Choo-Foo said. "Someone as connected as Mark in the hockey world we would be silly not to take advantage of that."

Lamb's departure wasn't a surprise to the board or even many Broncos fans. With a few weeks to consider his departure the Broncos have done some work on potential candidates. That doesn't mean they aren't open to what make shake loose now that Lamb's departure is official.

"It's important to give some appropriate time however training camp is not all that far away," Choo-Foo noted. "We will give some time so we can see who is out there. Certainly you can't anticipate everything about who may or may not be available, but as I'm learning in this game a lot has to do with timing. We will move forward as quickly as we can around it."

Choo-Foo feels like they're more ready for this than they have been at previous times in franchise history.

"The one difference we may have this time is we have as an organization all of our values, all of our vision, all of our goals set forth," Choo-Foo said. "We know what our plan is and we're looking for someone who complements that plan. We believe we're on the upswing as an organization and we want to find the right individual or individuals who fit that mould and will enhance what we've already done."

With their goals and values spelled out so clearly the board could certainly have some specific candidates in mind that fit those parameters. They aren't shying away from doing some recruiting.

"There's a piece here where we don't know what we don't know," Choo-Foo said. "At the same time we're not fulfilling our obligation if we believe there are one or two people out there who fit exactly what we're looking for and we don't reach out to make that connection."

There are certainly successes and setbacks to look back on in the Lamb era. The organization didn't go on any long playoff runs, but the financial position improved and they earned a good reputation for developing players for professional hockey. Now the question is what type of person do the Broncos need to build on their current position and find more on-ice success?

“It’s going to take a person that has a certain amount of patience to deal with a lot of different parts of the game,” Lamb said. “In this job you have to learn to deal with something you can’t get. It’s like a kid that really wants that cookie that can’t get up there and get it. There's so many cookies out there I wanted in terms of players you just can't get. You have to adapt and go and get the next best thing. That's nothing negative it's just a small market. We're not Kelowna, we're not Calgary, we're not a big centre and we don't have an airport. The American kids or parents they just don't know where it is. To have success here is going to hopefully have a person that is going to come in to reach out to those places and hopefully recruit players.”

The new people in charge can also rest easy that they will be given the rope to do the job as they see fit. Lamb expressed that he really enjoyed working with the current board and their governing model makes it clear the board isn't hands-on in daily operations.

"The board clearly has outlined what their role is in this organization," Choo-Foo said. "Setting the goals, hiring the CEO and then monitoring all the activities towards achievement of those goals. We don't get in there and talk about how the power play is working. That is not our role. We hire experts to do that and give them the latitude to do that."

Speculation has been running wild in the fan community from big name former NHL players and coaches to hockey people with local connections and internal candidates. If they've made any decisions yet the Broncos aren't saying and there's bound to be lots of personnel activity and conversations at the NHL draft this weekend.

The Broncos have some work to focus on likely before they bring in their new staff. The CHL Import Draft is slated for Tuesday and Swift Current has an important pick to make in the first round.