Munster have added Mick Galwey to their management structure while Anthony Foley and Paul McCarthy have been given beefed up roles.
Tony McGahan's side stuttered towards the end of their season, with their scrum in particular coming in for heavy criticism in some quarters.
Foley, Munster’s most capped player and leading try scorer, coached the Munster B & I Cup side and was also a technical advisor to the senior squad.
This season, he will be an assistant coach with responsibility for defence. He will also continue as head coach of Munster’s B & I Cup side.
McCarthy, who played in the Munster team that beat Australia in 1992 and was capped five times by Ireland, will be the full-time scrum coach with additional responsibility for identifying and developing front row talent in the province. He was a part-time advisor last year.
The changes mean three coaches, Foley, McCarthy and current forwards coach Laurie Fisher, will have responsibilities relating to the Munster forwards.
Former Munster captain Galwey joins the management team as ‘Munster squad advisor’, a part-time position in which, among other things, he will act as a mentor to senior and development players.
Coakley, who worked alongside Foley with the Academy and B & I Cup teams last year, joins the senior setup as a physiotherapist.
On the playing front, Munster have lost up-and-coming flanker Eoghan Grace to Aviva Premiership team Exeter.
Grace, 22, has impressed in the AIL for Shannon and was Munster’s academy player of the year but the lure of first team action has seen him opt to move for England.
He was a member of the Ireland Under-20s Grand Slam winning team in 2007 and has also played international sevens.
Exeter coach Rob Baxter commented: ‘Eoghan has played some big games for Shannon and probably feels unlucky not to have progressed further in the Munster set-up. Although he is not a household name now, I think he may be a name for the future.'
