Skontra will coach perenial strugglers Maryborough in the Bendigo Football League next year, tasked with resurrecting the flailing club.

The two-time BFL and CHFL interleague coach was announced as coach this week, signing on for two years with an option of further seasons after that.

He knows he has a massive challenge on his hands - Maryborough lost every game this year at an average of 112 points, but he fully believes the Magpies can be turned around.

Skontra, who has been director of coaching at Ballarat for the last two years, says he always wanted to continue coaching, but didn't want to come up against the Swans in the BFL or Waubra in the CHFL. His new role also means he will vacate the position of interleague coach, which he says was the hardest part of the decision.

"I really enjoyed my time with the interleague, that was what made it hardest to leave that job," he said.

"I was always keen to get back into senior coaching but I didn't really want to coach against Ballarat or any other clubs I've been involved with."

Maryborough has not made finals since 2010, often finding it hard to recruit quality players due to the concentration of teams from the Bendigo and Maryborough Castlemaine District football leagues. Skontra said the first step was to engage the community and build from the base.

"They've got great facilities up there and we've got a faur bit to build on," he said.

"We need to engage the community and make it a club people want to play for."

Having constructed the BFL's interleague demolition of Bendigo this year, Skontra enters with a strong degree of knowledge of the league.

However, he said it was unlikely he would come armed with a big group of players from Ballarat.

BFL operations manager Aaron Nunn said the league hoped to appoint Skontra’s successor before Christmas.