IF Frank Dick, Scotland and Great Britain's former national coach, could not drive through the changes required to revitalise scottishathletics, it was suggested that perhaps nobody could.

Dick stepped down as chair of the governing body more than two months ago, because "he could not commit enough time given other interests" as the body put it this week.

Dick stated that he had spent three to four hours a day, seven days a week, on the role, yet in an exclusive first interview yesterday, his successor confirmed: "I won't be spending anything like four hours a day."

Ian Beattie, a 46-year-old ultra distance runner with 86 marathons on his competitive cv, has a background in banking and the investment management sector, but is currently chief operating officer of one of Scotland's most respected legal firms. He stood down after six years on sportscotland's management board, four as vice chair, to take on a sports post which it's hard not to perceive a poisoned chalice.

He follows some heavyweight incumbents – Dick, newspaper chairman Mark Hollinshead (another club standard marathon runner), and former world champion Liz McColgan.

Beattie's designation, however, has changed from that of his predecessors. He is non-executive chair. This may not be Mission Impossible, but is certainly Mission Very Difficult, with no more than four Scots in the Olympic team, and a squad of modest prospects for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Beattie met this observation with typical management speak: "It's challenging and exciting – a good opportunity. I'm looking forward to it."

Dick believed the sport needs sweeping cultural change, but failed to achieve that, and it's clear that frustration over inability to take the sport forward was at the root of his departure which coincided with the announcement of a GB World Indoor Championships team without a single Scot.

"I can't really comment on what Frank did," said Glasgow University graduate Beattie, "though I see some of the structures he started putting in place are fine, and look very positive".

Beattie spent yesterday with scottishathletics chief executive, Nigel Holl, and Stephen Maguire, the new director of coaching, who will start after the Paralympics.

They visited the new national indoor stadium, then crossed the road to Celtic Park, meeting all the sport's headquarters team. "After that, I'm even more enthusiastic about the prospects for athletics," he said. "It's going to take time to get the structures right, and everything in place, but there's a very solid base."

He sees his job as very different from Dick's hands-on style, and said Maguire's role would be very different from that of Steve Rippon and Laurier Primeau, the last two top coaching incumbents.

"My job, and I am very clear on it, is to make sure sport stays focused on what it should be doing, and let the team in place manage that while providing what advice I can. We have a great chance to do things in Scotland and the new director of coaching, whom I met for the first time, is really excited by that opportunity.

"The director of coaching will be overseeing. He is not going to be coaching individual athletes himself. He will be working with coaches, helping them develop. That's been clearly spelled out to him."

There has been friction in the past between athletes' coaches and the national coach, because some of the former perceived the head coach as a threat, poaching the best talent.

Beattie said he would model his style on his interim chairmanship at sportscotland. "I provided support. I caught up with them once a week, sent emails. I provided guidance, but that was it. And I kept in touch. What I have made clear is that I will do this job in a non-executive way. I'll guide the board. I don't have the time to spend four hours a day. I don't have Frank's coaching background, or anything like that, but I do have probably more of an ability to chair something, to guide and let the team get on with it, set the structure."

He will be phoning Dick, "to thank him, and to pick his brains, but I am keen on look ahead, and get the things in place that we need to do. It's going to be challenging, going to be exciting."