Wallabies three-quarter Digby Ioane will stay with embattled Queensland but former Test coach John Connolly will not lead the Reds out of their current mire.

Queensland coach Phil Mooney, who axed his forwards coach Mark Bell and manager Brendan Morris in a turbulent week at Ballymore, confirmed Ioane was set to re-sign in the coming days in a major boost to his hopes of a Super 14 resurrection.

But Mooney rubbished reports Connolly would be appointed as the Reds' director of coaching in the wake of high-performance manager Ben Whitaker quitting his post due to personal reasons.

The under-pressure coach insisted he did not need a coaching mentor or overseer, be they Connolly or anyone else.

Former Wallabies and Reds centre Daniel Herbert has also been mentioned as a candidate to turn the battling franchise, which has finished in the bottom three for the last six years, around.

"I certainly haven't spoken to John Connolly and haven't thought about bringing John Connolly in as I know (QRU chairman) Peter Lewis has also said the same to me," Mooney told AAP from Brisbane on Friday night.

"Daniel Herbert is a good style of guy but he's busy with the Ballymore redevelopment."

Mooney didn't back down from his decisions to cut Bell, also his forwards coach with the triumphant Australian under-19s team in 2006, and Morris.

"It was a tough call but I have to make the tough calls, I have to take the Reds to a better place," he said.

The coach, who has taken the Reds to just six wins and a draw from 26 matches in charge since 2007, hasn't shirked away from making hard decisions in the past, sacking close friend John Roe as captain after just four matches.

Mooney has just one year remaining in his three-season contract but has been backed strongly by Lewis and the QRU board.

Whitaker, effectively the Reds recruitment officer, resigned on Friday after failing to recruit high-profile targets Rocky Elsom, Drew Mitchell and Richard Brown, while losing Wallabies forward Hugh McMeniman.

QRU chief executive Ken Freer said no decisions on replacements would be made until the end of a organisational review, but would take over contract negotiations in the interim.

"The Reds team player leadership group has performed a valuable role in the review process thus far and will continue to do so," Freer said in a statement.

"Queensland Rugby recently restructured other areas of its business to reflect the tougher commercial environment that professional sport now finds itself in and the financial constraints we face.

"The current Reds' review is a separate process aimed at breaking the cycle of disappointment that continued in 2009. Change is painful but inevitable in professional sport when teams do not succeed."

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