The 53-year-old stepped in to lead the Otago men’s team during the winter while the association finds a permanent replacement for Ashley Noffke, who left a year into his two-year term to pursue a role with Pakistan.
Stead started on June 30 and is contracted through to September 1.
But he is flexible on his end date should Otago need him to stay around a bit longer.
"I definitely haven't put my name forward [to be the fulltime coach]," he told the Otago Daily Times.
"I guess I've stepped away from the Black Caps role to try and look after myself a little bit more as well and just not be on the road so much, so I'm sticking to that."
That said, he is still clocking up the miles in his role as interim Otago coach.
He makes the trip down from Christchurch once a week and stays two or three nights to work with the players face-to-face.
The rest of the week, he works the phone.
"There’s quite a bit of time in the evenings at the moment, so I can still touch base with the UK players and work with them about where they're at and try and help them get nice and clear on what they're working on."
About half of Otago’s 16 contracted players are in Dunedin at the moment, "but we're pulling in a few of the guys from the A squad as well and just trying to, I guess, show them some love as well, because no teams have been selected yet, so everyone, from my point of view, is fighting for a position regardless of whether they're contracted or not."
He is optimistic about Otago’s prospects but thinks it will be a "slow burn".
"I think there is enough talent coming through. And, from what I've seen, if you can hold them in Otago for a period of time, then I'm pretty excited about what the side could look like in three or four years."
Stead is uncertain about his next step when the role with the Volts winds up.
"I’m not sure, to be honest. But I've got an agent that's looking out for me for different roles around the world, but I don't see myself, in the short-term anyway, being on the international scene.
"I think if that's what I wanted to do, I probably would have put my name in the hat again for the Black Caps.
"But it's been seven years with them, and it was a fantastic period and I look back really fondly at what we achieved as a group at that time.
"But I think it always comes to an end at some stage, and I think the time is right for a change."
