49ers CEO Jed York is "taking a greater role" in hiring the next coach and GM, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBAYAREA.com. York and 49ers Chief Strategy Officer & Exec VP/Football Operations Paraag Marathe have "already started the search" to fill both positions. The team has "not looked outside the organization" to fill the open positions simultaneously since '05 (CSNBAYAREA.com, 1/3). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami wrote York has "created a blank-canvas situation that would attract the attention of any top coach or GM candidate looking for a total franchise re-boot." It also "helps enormously that the 49ers are the only GM opening in the league, currently." York "presumably is offering market-rate money and long-term deals, because no good candidate is going to walk into the 49ers’ recent history of rapid-firings and accept anything less than five years." This is a "fresh start unlike the 49ers have offered" since '05. But even if York and Marathe "pick the right guys," can they "stay out of their way through the long haul when they’ve messed up each of the last three administrations?" Kawakami: "We don't know. There's no proof that they know how to do this." Meanwhile, Marathe is "back on the main stage after he was banished" from his role as team President last year. Marathe is "always a wild-card" because he has a connection with York, and if Marathe is around, "always look for other executives to get fired and Marathe to move forward when that happens." The York family is "very isolated from the normal NFL levels," which is why Jed "almost always goes back to Marathe and why [he] communicates so often with national reporters." Kawakami: "Maybe they get it right. But if they do it’ll mostly by accident and good timing" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 1/3).
PROBLEM AT THE TOP? In S.F., Eric Branch noted York on Monday during a press conference "invoked 'culture' on 16 occasions" (SFCHRONICLE.com, 1/3). CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto wrote York at the presser was at times "combative when confronted with bear-baiting questions" and "rigid in the responses he did give." Turning the 49ers around will "take a few years, which means there is more abuse for him to bear." It is York's "lot in public life to be the guy who is disliked in bad times and ignored in good ones." Ratto: "In terms of winning over hearts and minds in the market which defines him, those days seem over" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 1/3). FANRAGSPORTS.com's John McMullen wrote while York "understandably remains very unpopular," he "did the only thing he could have at this point and took some very expensive medicine to move forward" (FANRAGSPORTS.com, 1/3). In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin writes for "all his stumbles, and alienating 49ers fans with his aloofness is among them, York hasn’t been a complete bust" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 1/4). The S.F. Chronicle's Ann Killion said, "There is not a lot of faith that Jed York is going to change." The Mercury News' Kawakami said the York family "think that the people beneath them have failed." But it was York and former GM Trent Baalke who created a "poisonous atmosphere ("Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 1/3).
CHANGE THE CULTURE: ESPN's Michael Wilbon called the 49ers the "biggest mess in pro football." ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said the club has "moved from disaster to cesspool under the stewardship" of York ("PTI," ESPN, 1/3). The S.F. Chronicle's Killion said the 49ers have a "broken culture, a culture that's been built on back-stabbing and leaks and lies and disloyalty" ("Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 1/3). Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager said of the 49ers' situation, "You’re literally starting from scratch and to me, that’s an attractive thing if I’m a general manager or head coach interviewing for a team. It’s almost like fantasy football, you can build from the ground up without someone looming over you" ("Good Morning Football," NFL Network, 1/4).
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: The S.F. CHRONICLE's Branch notes ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick will meet with 49ers officials in N.Y. next week about the team's GM position. Riddick on Monday on ESPN said that he would "like to be" the 49ers' next GM. Riddick previously worked as a scout and personnel exec for the Redskins and Eagles (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/4).
