Lincoln Doull threw his hat into the ring to coach the Hawke's Bay senior men's cricket team but found no traction.
"I was available and could have done it but, dare I say, they were more keen to keep Skippy [Mathew Sinclair] in the game," says Doull who was Bay coach for the past four summers.
"It probably wouldn't have worked with both of us," the former first-class cricketer says.
However, he emphasises there's no animosity at all between the pair.
"It was good to catch up with Skippy last weekend," says the elder brother of former Black Caps international seamer Simon Doull.