The San Francisco 49ers coaching search is approaching the end of a full week of work, and things are still unsettled. Hue Jackson emerged as a front-runner over the last few days, but that slowed down on Sunday as Mike Silver reported no offers were made by the 49ers or Browns, and Jackson was considering the New York Giants as well.
Amidst all this, word got out that Jed York was involved in the interview process. That got people riled up, and this tweet pushed some folks back into the anger territory:
Have heard John & Jed York are playing a big role in this search. Talking with candidates.
— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) January 10, 2016
People jumped all over this as though Jed had lied about the process, but it is important to note that Jed never said ownership would not be involved in the interview process. Give his transcript a read when you get a minute. He said Trent Baalke would lead the coaching search, but never referenced his own role. Nobody followed up on that in the press conference. I only thought about it yesterday amidst the comments regarding Jed's role, so I'm not going to blame anybody for not actually asking the question. In hindsight, that would be a great question. And once a coach is hired, somebody can ask Jed what his role was compared to that of Trent Baalke.
I do get why people are pissed off that he is involved. There is concern of meddling, and that he did not learn from previous mistakes. He talked about giving his football people the resources they need, but never spoke to his own involvement in football decisions. That's something that will be worth a follow-up at some point.
While I get why people are pissed, I also am not surprised ownership is involved. There is not the stand-alone football president that we saw with guys like Carmen Policy back in 80s and 90s. Trent Baalke seems to kind of be that guy, but it is not in the same format as what we saw back in the DeBartolo/Policy days. And that I think is what complaints come down to in some manner: effectively, creating some kind of buffer role.