Lowell Cohn on Baalke's hiring.

jed, the farce is strong in him.

Originally posted by mayo49:

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:

Originally posted by WestCoast:

Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
It's true.

This GM search was a sham.

they have to conduct a GM search, it's a league rule. they must abide by the rooney rule just like when they hire a head coach.

That's fine. But if you go by York's statements -" Jed York said on Dec. 27 he was going to conduct a nationwide search for a general manager, said he was going to find the best guy in the business." - and the acute necessity to find someone who would have a profound impact on breaking the culture of losing football that we have, Jed came up with an underwhelming choice by most reasonable criteria:

Past GM Experience - Baalke - NO
Proven track record - Ballke - NO
Comes from a winning organization - Baalke -NO
Coveted executive by other teams - Baalke - NO
Fresh set of eyes - Baalke -NO



Baalke may turn out to be the right choice. And he might not.

That's not the point. The point is, Jed York said he would go nationwide and get the best possible guy in the business. Promoting a virtual unknown, in house, from a losing organization, a guy who already works for you - goes against what you said and keeps in line with the same bad decisions that have plagued this franchise in the past decade.

Baalke is an up and comer and York might have thought if we don't hire this him someone else would

I'm just wary of a young inexperienced owner from a losing organization hiring a young inexperienced executive from the same losing organization.

I always like to get Cohn's opinion, he is unafraid to say the harsh things that need saying. Sometimes he seems to try to hard to find harsh things to say. This time is not one of those times!

Hiring Baalke is a sign the Jed has more of an Al DAvis style then an Eddie D style of management, the problem is Al has more football knowledge. Even if it is leather helmet related knowledge, it is still football knowledge.

Cohn makes and then glosses over a point, a point that has been on my mind all a long.
There a possibility, that Harbaugh has already negotiated a deal, and Baalke was part of the deal. Harbaugh may want Baalke as GM, we might just have a team power structure with a weak GM.

If we are a "weak GM" team, and Harbaugh gets to call player and coaching personal decisions, I think I'm okay with the hire. I am not however okay with Jed's lying about the search. We will see soon enough, Go Niners!

Originally posted by mayo49:
Who cares about Lowell Cohn's oppinion.

Like five people . . .

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
I always like to get Cohn's opinion, he is unafraid to say the harsh things that need saying. Sometimes he seems to try to hard to find harsh things to say. This time is not one of those times!

Hiring Baalke is a sign the Jed has more of an Al DAvis style then an Eddie D style of management, the problem is Al has more football knowledge. Even if it is leather helmet related knowledge, it is still football knowledge.

Cohn makes and then glosses over a point, a point that has been on my mind all a long.
There a possibility, that Harbaugh has already negotiated a deal, and Baalke was part of the deal. Harbaugh may want Baalke as GM, we might just have a team power structure with a weak GM.

If we are a "weak GM" team, and Harbaugh gets to call player and coaching personal decisions, I think I'm okay with the hire. I am not however okay with Jed's lying about the search. We will see soon enough, Go Niners!

In my mind Baalke isn't a bad choice, as long as Jed doesn't go Jerry Jones and meddle with everything.

LOL, another cowardly step forward by the 49ers ownership.

Originally posted by prometheus:
jed, the farce is strong in him.

Lol! Ba da bump, psssh!

This family scares the sh*t out of me. I think we're all Satan's little piggy's; doomed to bankroll this evil for all eternity.

Bill Hicks says: SUCK ON SATAN'S COOOOOOOOCK!

The thing that Lowell Cohn is missing in this article is that every owner needs to do the same thing because of the Rooney Rule.

Originally posted by Truman1:
I may be in the minority here, but I think Cohn makes some good points. I do not think Cohn was saying Baalke will fail, he simply said that the process was dishonest. I also agree that it may be difficult for Baalke to exercise the demons in the front office because he has been part of the front office for six years.

My big question that many of you have asked....it took up to the last week of the season to realize we need a GM? He should have been working on this all season. I find it difficult to believe Baalke is the best GM available.

Several have suggested that all we need is a GM and Harbaugh. I disagree. We need a complete change in our front office and to reconnect with our winning tradition. I does not matter who the coach is, or what players we have. Until we establish a solid organizational foundation and identity, we will always be saying "...we are just one draft away from being good..." or "if only we had player X, we could make it to the playoffs..."

I am so disappointed I do not know what to think.

Yes, but the minority is growing.

Thanks to Lowell for continuing to remind us the Emperor has no clothes.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Once again Lowell Cohn is 100% correct. The absolute best writer in the Bay Area. He is a star.



Jed lied straight to your faces. The GM search was a dog and pony show. He knew what he was going to do all the time. He lied to the fans, the media and the players. Plus the HC search appears to be a lie. "The GM will make the HC decision." LOL. It sounds like they already have decided on the HC. And they haven't had a "GM" long enough to interview and conduct due diligence. Jed is deciding everything. GM, HC and everything else. That alone should be enough to disturb any 49ers fan. Even if the HC is the right guy it should give you a lot of pause that Jed lied and is still making all the decisions despite being way over his head.

Say what you will about ownwership and how the team's been run. I'm very pessimistic about all the decisions made as well, but Cohn is probably the worst journalist in the Bay Area. All his columns are conjecture, speculation and biased opinion. He carries personal vendettas for people and writes them which, warranted or not, are completely unprofessional. The guy is not even the best writer at the Press Democrat.

The decision has been made so live with it!!!!!

I'm not the biggest Lowell Cohn fan but he is spot on with his analyst. We deserved Jed's honesty and what we got was a slap to the face. The 49er fans are owed a better GM. What does Jed and Trent know about WINNING? Trent has been apart of the Jets and Redskins before coming to San Francisco. Last time I checked the Jets aren't concidered a model of WINNING and the Redskins haven't been WINNERS since the early 90's. Now take into effect that he has been stuck in this crappy FO for the last six years and you got a man who only knows how to LOOSE. WINNING only starts with knowing how to WIN and Trent doesn't qualify. We deserved a deeper GM search then what we got and now Jed owes us an appology!!!

Originally posted by NinerGM:
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

If Jed listens to the fans and hires a up-and-coming personnel person from New England, Baltimore or Pittsburgh and fails, Cohn would write the same scathing article. He unfairly states that Baalke was "a part of the same failed organization for 6 years" yet doesn't at all talk about what went right this off-season. Perspective. In my opinion there's little fact in this commentary and pretty much pure opinion and completely rooted in supposition and assumption.