Less than a month before national signing day and four months before spring practice, Eastern must now scramble to fill its coaching staff.

With the announcement of Mark Hutson accepting the offensive line position at Tulane, Eastern must now not only find an offensive line coach but also must decide what to do with the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach positions.

“That’s something that you’d have to talk to (director of athletics) Dr. (Rich) McDuffie about,” Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said.

Panther head coach Bob Spoo and Eastern officials would not confirm whether co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jorge Munoz will be given the full coordinator title.

“That would make sense to me but I haven’t heard anything about that yet,” Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson said.

Stinson enters spring practice as the frontrunner for the starting quarterback position.

Spoo has already begun the search process to find an offensive line coach. Spoo called his former offensive coordinator Roy Wittke Thursday inquiring about potential candidates to fill Hutson’s position.

Wittke, who was let go as Arizona State offensive coordinator by recently hired head coach Dennis Erickson, when a new staff was brought in, denied any rumor about returning to his old position as offensive coordinator at Eastern.

Bellantoni confirmed Thursday he has been contacted by several schools but currently has no plans to take another job.

“My phone has rung a couple of times and there’s been a level of interest,” Bellantoni said. “It hasn’t been enough for me to leave being the defensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois University.”

Bellantoni noted former Panther assistants who left for I-A schools during his six seasons at Eastern and are now unemployed such as Wittke, Derrick Jackson and Charley Molnar as a major reason to stay.

“I’m extremely happy to have the job I have and be here with Coach Spoo,” Bellantoni said. “I’d like to not put myself in that position ever.”

After Hutson led the Panthers to an 8-5 record and a playoff appearance as acting head coach this season, the reaction to the news inside O’Brien Stadium was not of surprise.

“I’m not shocked,” Bellantoni said. “It’s a I-A program, they generally pay more money and it’s a great opportunity to work under (new Tulane head coach) Bob Toledo.”

With national signing day for high school senior prospects being early February, the coaching staff is prepared to answer the staff instability questions from recruits the same way they addressed the issue when Spoo was ill.

“We’ll tell them the guy who called every play this past year is still here in Jorge Munoz. Our head coach is here so the philosophy is the same too,” Bellantoni said. “The answer to ‘Do we need a offensive line coach’ is yeah.”

However, the coaching staff is confident they will have a strong recruiting class this season.

Stinson said the loss of Hutson will be noticed throughout the offensive side of the ball, especially on the offensive line, but the scheme will not change.

“I’m not worried about major changes,” Stinson said. “Coach Hutson was a integral part of our offense but I can’t see us having a new system.”