However, Rovers club president and board member Barrie Hughes says Hastings isn't stepping down and, no, no one is forcing the coach to walk the plank.
"There's nothing sinister in it at all," Hughes say, adding it's simply a case of the Bay's elite club taking its coaching set up to a different realm where, for instance, the youth grades will be integrated.
The applicants must throw their hats into the Blues' ring by the close of business on Tuesday next week.
The premiership and division one teams compete in Bay competitions although interest in the knockout cup could extend to playing in the Federation Cup in the Central region for the premiership side.
Hastings' son, Matt Hastings, a former Kinetic Electrical Hawke's Bay United and top Rovers player, was the rookie coach this year.
When Hawke's Bay Today contacted Grant Hastings he would only say the Rovers board reserved the right to advertise the positions because his contract was a one-year one, to be revisited at the end of each season, although he had served an initial three-year one when he was appointed four years ago.
Under Hastings, the Bill Robertson-captained side won the Central League crown in the 2012 season but finished fifth this year.
The team, which Hastings coached to a Chatham Cup (knockout) losing finalists berth in 2011, had also lost nine players from the league championship-winning squad.
"It was by no means a disastrous season. They finished in the top five of the Central League but you can't win every year and they were no where near relegation," Hughes says, adding a couple of injuries added to their woes although "some things didn't go our way, too".
He confirms all coaches at the club are hired on a year-by-year, renewable contract and Hastings, or the other mentors for that matter, aren't "necessarily" losing their perches.
"It's a transient sort of occupation."
Nevertheless, Hughes understands why soccer fans, some from outside the Bay, may have drawn conclusions that the Rovers' website overtures aren't exactly coming across as a glowing endorsement of incumbent coaches.
"You could look at it that way, I suppose ...
"We're not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that Grant won't be the coach next year. It could be that Grant is the best person for the job but then how do we [the board] know that.
"We're just wanting to see who else is out there to do the job for us."
Hughes says the board is, like any other footballing organisation, adopting a philosophy of exploring new frontiers rather than finding itself saddled with "the same old, same old" season after season.
Drawing an analogy with rugby, he says the All Blacks coach "is as good as his contract".
Dumped Wallabies coach Robbie Deans, he feels, is a classic example of where the Australian Rugby Union opted for a change, albeit not necessarily finding things had improved vastly under incumbent Ewen McKenzie.
Hughes accepts the advertisement can lure applicants from outside the Bay, particularly in relation to the assuming the mantle of Central League coach.
