Clayton McMillan says the news of Mike Prendergast's decision to leave Munster came as a "huge disappointment" and that the province will consider his replacement later in the season.
The former Munster scrum-half returned to the club in 2022 after coaching stints with Racing 92, Stade Français, Oyonnax and Grenoble, to take over as attack coach.
The 48-year-old had put his name forward for the head coach role at the club following Graham Rowntree's departure in October 2024 but, after a long process, New Zealander McMillan was confirmed in February of last year on a three-year contract.
This afternoon the two-time European champions announced Prendergast would leave at the end of the season; he has been linked with a switch to Bath, who former Munster head coach Johann van Graan led to a Premiership title last year.
"It's a huge disappointment, obviously, around Prendy moving on," McMillan told RTÉ Sport ahead of his side BKT URC clash with Zebre on Saturday (5.30pm).
"He's a quality man, grown up, lived, played, coached [here], accumulated a lot of experience in other environments, so that sort of experience is not easy to replace.
"But he's made a decision that is in the best interest of himself and his family, and he goes with our absolute blessing.
"We know he's fully committed to the rest of the season, as we all are, and there's still a fair amount of rugby to be played.
"We haven't given any consideration around what the make-up of the coaching squad will look like because it's relatively new news to us.
"I spoke to Prendy on Thursday last week around what he was thinking and it wasn't confirmed until we came in a couple of days ago.
"So this is all very fresh and raw, and whatever happens moving forward, we won't make any quick decisions.
"We'll just take stock and get through this week.
"It's probably the most important one, it's a game that we need to win, and then there's a little bit more downtime between our next game and our trip to Africa where maybe we'll start to consider when and how we move forward."
Munster are sixth in the table with seven wins and four defeats, three coming in their last four matches.
They have also lost their last three in a row at Thomond Park and need to avoid defeat against the Italians, bottom of the table, to avoid a record losing streak in the professional era at the Limerick venue.
"Every game is important, and right from the beginning we really wanted to make our home games difficult for any team to come and play, and we haven't quite met that mark," he said of the visit of Massimo Brunello's side, who have lost nine on the bounce in the competition.
"A lot of our home games, where we have lost have been by very small margins, so it hasn't been far away, but nevertheless we want to be much better.
"The last three weeks have given us an opportunity to sharpen the sword in a few areas, and we're really hopeful that that will be evident in the way that we perform on the weekend.
"And if we're good enough to earn a result then I think it's going to be a lot of positive spin-off from that that will serve us well for the rest of the season."
The Kiwi was also asked about new signing Marnus van der Merwe (above), the 29-year-old three-cap Springboks hooker who will move over from Scarlets at the end of the season.
"We just looked at the roster of our hookers, and we've got some good players coming through, likes of Lee Barron, Max Clein, and then a couple of more experienced guys in Niall Scannell and Diarmuid Barron," said the 51-year-old.
"It's been no secret that our scrum has been under a little bit of pressure at times.
"We felt that the addition of an international quality hooker, big body, different sort of profile, but more explosive, barrel-chested, typical sort of South African frame would be something that would add value to the team.
"So when his name was put across our desks, we were more than happy to jump at that opportunity and get him into our ranks."
