Over the weekend, the San Francisco 49ers fired both general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly. 49ers CEO Jed York held a press conference to answer questions from the media today. He touched on a number of interesting topics during the 25-minute conversation.
York stated that the new general manager and head coach will have a very long leash as far as making decisions. Ultimately, the decisions on hirings will rest with York, who says he will consult with people inside and outside of the building. "We're going to spend the money necessary to win," said York.
York also contradicted an earlier report by Pro Football Focus that the team would hire a general manager first. That will not necessarily be the case. York said that he is open to hiring a head coach first or so whatever makes the most sense.
"I'm not doing this so we can get to 8-8, 9-7 and say, 'See? We turned it around. We're good,'" York said. My ultimate goal is to win a championship. Win multiple championships. And that's the foundation that we need to lay and that's what we need to build for."
York said that he had envisioned Baalke, who was a defensive minded guy, and Kelly, who was an offensive minded guy, joining together and fixing things. That did not happen and that's why a change was necessary. "We were 2-14," York said. "I think that speaks for itself."
"I can't look backwards," said York when asked if he can now admit that he was wrong about the firing of former head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Chip Kelly had stated repeatedly that he had not had any discussions about his future during the season. However, when asked when he knew changes might be needed, York stated that he sat down with both Trent Baalke and Kelly at the midway point to indicate that he was not happy with the way things were going. Now, that does not necessarily mean that their futures were specifically discussed, but it is entirely possible that it was hinted at.
Chief strategy officer and executive vice president of football operations Paraag Marathe will be in there with York in interviews. "We've certainly done research together and we we'll be moving forward," York said. York said that he has a ton of respect for assistant general manager Tom Gamble, but feels that it is time to have two new people at the helm.
York said that he talks regularly with his uncle and former team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. He also said that he has had discussions with several other "very well respected people," but did not want to offer names – with some being Super Bowl winning and Hall of Fame coaches.
Jed says he talks to uncle Eddie a lot. Eddie said this year they haven't talked as much recently as they have in the past. #49ers #49wz
— Aaron Erickson (@EricksonAaron44) January 2, 2017
York also said that he is indeed talking to former 49ers greats like Brent Jones, Steve Young, Harris Barton, Ronnie Lott, and others. "This isn't acceptable to me," York said. "It's not. Our fans deserve better than this."
"I owe [the fans] so much more than what we have given them," York continued. "And we will give it to them. People have questioned us in the past. I think we tried to answer a lot of the questions. We certainly got close for a period of time but we didn't get to our ultimate goal. I'm embarrassed where we are now and I'm going to do everything that I can to get us back."
The 49ers' remaining coaching staff, who arrived at the team's headquarters early this morning, have not been let go. "Nobody else has been let go," York said. "I talked to the coaches. I talked to as many of the scouts certainly that are internal. Obviously, we have some scouts that are on the road that aren't in the building. Talked to football operations staff. I let them know that the new general manager and the new head coach are going to make the final decisions on who's here and who's not.
"Those folks are all under contract. They're going to have the ability to go somewhere else. There's no tampering charges. They're free to talk to anybody else. There's not going to be any concern of that. I want to make sure that their families are taken care of whether they are here or whether they're somewhere else. I wish them the best and I respect everything that they've done."