REGINA — A very important — and extremely busy — off-season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is officially underway.

The Blue and Gold unveiled Kyle Walters as their permanent general manager Tuesday morning, and now he must quickly continue the work he’s been doing since taking over for the fired Joe Mack on Aug. 13.

The first thing he needs to do is hire a head coach. The two top candidates appear to be Riders quarterbacks coach Khari Jones and Argonauts special teams co-ordinator Mike O’Shea.

Then Walters needs to secure his next starting quarterback. The Bombers want Argos backup Zach Collaros after his fine work in relief of Ricky Ray this season, but Kevin Glenn or Drew Tate in Calgary could also be options if the Bombers become too wary about Collaros, who is a potential free agent in February.

Walters also has to solidify the team’s protected list for the Ottawa Redblacks expansion draft on Dec. 16, and then he has to start locking up potential free agents without knowing what the salary cap is going to be in 2014. The Bombers have 24 players who will be able to test the market on Feb. 15, including middle linebacker Henoc Muamba.

The Bombers also have to formulate their new scouting system, which, according to rumours during Grey Cup week, could include former Tiger-Cats quarterback Danny McManus as an assistant GM. President and CEO Wade Miller has vowed to more than double the size of Winnipeg’s current scouting staff.