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TORONTO — John Gibbons has been staring at the writing on the wall for a while now.

But unlike Gibbons, who knows for sure he won’t be returning in 2019 and has more than accepted that, his Blue Jays coaching staff isn’t really sure what fate awaits.

They’ve been twisting in the wind ever since it became apparent over the summer that Gibbons’ tenure was coming to an end, an open secret that was made official Wednesday morning.

Hired as Jays’ first-base coach in the winter of 2013, Tim Leiper has used the out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach.

“Having worked in this game for so long and so many years in the minor leagues, I think you just learn to live and work not seeing the writing on the wall, knowing you’ve got a schedule to finish and you don’t want to look past that because every day is important,” Leiper said.

“You never really know. There’s always some sort of change going on. So for me it’s kind of the nature of the business.”

Rumours of Gibbons’ demise started circulating way back in June, leaving three-plus months of awkwardness to come. Leiper believes that’s the tough part of the process.

“When stuff gets out there, I see it more as a personal thing for the people who have to live through it because you get reactions on the street and people ask you about it,” Leiper said of the uncertainty surrounding Gibbons.

Now, it’s the coaching staff’s turn.

Hitting coach Brook Jacoby, pitching coach Pete Walker, bench coach DeMarlo Hale, third-base coach Luis Rivera, bullpen coach Dane Johnson and a handful of others may or may not be back.

It could be a full house-cleaning or general manager Ross Atkins could pick and choose.

All of them were around for the highs of the 2015 and 2016 ALCS runs, and all of them have been through the lows of the last couple of seasons.

“We’ve faced this stuff before,” Leiper said. “I think our staff is really close and we’ve been able to block this stuff out before and enjoy the day and enjoy each other and that’s part of the reason, I think, we had success here.”

With four games remaining and a 791-787 all-time record as Jays manager, Gibbons is expected to manage out the string this weekend on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays