Incumbent Richard Murray is keen to do the job again and will likely be favoured to be retained given the small but promising steps made on the field last season.
Murray, who coaches Caversham in winter football, was given something of a hospital pass when he was appointed United coach just weeks before the opening game.
Otago did not exactly set the ASB Premiership alight - it finished sixth out of eight teams, with a record of three wins and two draws from 14 games - but there was a feeling Murray did the best with the cards he was dealt.
Still, his reappointment will be no walkover.
"We've had six applications, including two from overseas," United chairman Phil Cunningham said yesterday.
"We're pretty pleased with both the number and the quality of the applicants."
Cunningham said the rejigged United board had little time to find a coach last year, and wanted to make the process more transparent this time.
It was no reflection on the performance of Murray and assistant Andy Duncan that they were not automatically re-appointed.
"Richard and Andy did extremely well last season," Cunningham said.
"To be fair to everybody, it was decided to advertise the job and go through a full interview process."
It will all happen quickly, with interviews to be completed this week and an announcement due either at the end of this week or early next week.
That will give Murray or a new coach much more time to plan for the 2012-13 season.
