Not quite sure what he's done to prove that he'd be a good fit at a higher level? Surely getting good results with an average group of players would be a good sign that he was ready for a step up?
Seems a bit petty re: Steve. It's pretty obvious what he has achieved although perhaps he should be the bigger man and send in the CV and take the job.
I was (very peripherally) involved with some of the original meetings at the set-up of the franchise as the Otago Uni club rep (clearly didn't have a lot to say and no one was really interested in my opinion!) but attended a few of the meetings etc and I always felt that the board wanted a franchise but weren't really prepared to break from running it how you would run a succesful amateur club. The succesful franchises have been run as semi-pro outfits and have taken a long term view when it comes to recruitment, coaching etc. Obviously hard geographically for Otago to attract players but a good start would be to get all the guys playing in the Southern League to commit to summer football. I'm sure having a good set-up would help