UPDATE (1/5, 5:10 P.M.): While Andy Buh had originally intended to join the staff at Western Kentucky,  he has instead taken the defensive coordinator job at Nevada, his alma mater. Clayton White is still expected to go to WKU, but his specific position remains up in the air.

With its year now completed, Stanford football begins the process of establishing its roster and coaching staff for the coming season. The off-season prompts significant turnover: Players will be lost to attrition, graduation and the NFL Draft; recruits will hit The Farm in the summer; and coaches will move on to other pastures and will be replaced in kind.

The question of the off season, until he says anything declarative, will focus on senior running back Toby Gerhart’s draft intentions. But actually, it is at the coaching level where most of the immediate changes have been made.

Stanford may be less than a week removed from the Sun Bowl, but it has already seen movement in the ranks. Special teams and defensive ends coach DJ Durkin, one of the country’s top young assistant coaches, has left the Cardinal for Florida, where he will coach special teams and linebackers. Durkin was a graduate assistant at Bowling Green under current Florida head coach Urban Meyer.

He will be replaced, at least on special teams, by Brian Polian, who previously coached in the same position at Notre Dame — he was not retained by new Fighting Irish head man Brian Kelly, but he is regarded as a fairly good coach and an excellent recruiter.

Polian also has experience working with linebackers and may be able to work with the Cardinal there, as the current position coach, Andy Buh, is widely believed to be headed to Western Kentucky to serve as the Hilltoppers’ defensive coordinator. However, WKU Associate Athletic Director for Communications Todd Stewart emphasized, “nothing has been accepted at this point.” Western Kentucky’s new head coach is Willie Taggart, who served as Stanford’s running backs coach for three years and was named to his current job in November.

The changes don’t stop there. Defensive backs coach Clayton White is also expected to leave Stanford for Western Kentucky, along with Buh and Taggart, to coach the Hilltoppers’ defensive backs. The Athletics Department would not confirm or deny the move. The Cardinal was able to hold onto offensive coordinator David Shaw, who was a finalist for the San Jose State head-coaching gig (the job eventually went to Duke defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre).

Coach Jim Harbaugh, always at the center of speculation himself, now has a number of vacancies to fill. His father, Jack, was the running backs coach during the Sun Bowl, and Harbaugh has expressed interest in keeping him on staff, if he is willing.

But it’s not just the coaches who will experience change; the players will, too. Stanford has a number of key contributors who have now exhausted their eligibility. Chris Marinelli anchored the Cardinal’s superb offensive line from his right tackle spot, where he earned first-team conference honors. Jim Dray, perhaps the best blocking tight end in the country and a red zone threat, was a second-team All Pac-10 selection. Long time defensive starters Bo McNally, Ekom Udofia and Clint Snyder are also done, as well as impact players like Will Powers and Kris Evans and valuable reserves such as Tom McAndrew and Josh Catron. Tavita Pritchard, who manned the Cardinal offense in 20 starts, is gone, as is Allen Smith, the team’s most senior member.

However, that’s not all of the Stanford seniors: Richard Sherman and Matt Kopa have both applied for medical redshirts due to injuries that sidelined them in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Jim Young, director of media relations, said that there’s “nothing definitive yet, although [he’s] optimistic on both.” Joining Sherman and Kopa as medical redshirts could be Brian Bulcke and James McGillicuddy, both of whom have expressed interest in playing another year; Erik Lorig may have missed enough time in 2009 to qualify, but he is not expected to apply.

And then, of course, there’s Toby Gerhart. Although denoted as a senior, he would almost certainly gain an extra year of eligibility if he wanted it — he missed all but a few minutes of 2007. The will-he-or-won’t-he saga will not end until Gerhart makes a final statement either way, but the possibility that he will enter for the NFL Draft is considered very strong. He has requested an evaluation from the NFL, which will tell him a projected round — he has indicated that if he is graded out at a first round level, he will leave, but has not said that he would necessarily return if he’s seen as less than that. He has made no secret of his desire to play in the NFL, and though Gerhart could not be reached for comment, numerous quotes on the subject indicate a strong preference toward the professional ranks.

Further attrition is also expected — in past years, early retirements for medical purposes or otherwise, along with transfers, have led to a handful of players leaving the team.

Whatever the reasons, turnover is a perpetual part of football, particularly at the collegiate level. What it means, though, is that the off-season’s hunt for replacements leads to hardly any break at all.