After superlative season, 49ers CEO York is ready to ‘get our business done’
Jed York, the 49ers’ CEO, paid a surprise visit to the media room Friday afternoon and spent about 20 minutes chatting and answering questions.
York has run the team since the 2009 season. The previous four seasons, the 49ers were a cumulative 1747, but this team is Super Bowlbound. York, 39, has kept a low profile this season, but said he wanted to give the local media a chance to talk to him before next weekend’s game in Miami. Highlights of the discussion:
On how he feels:
York: I’m ready to get to Miami. I feel for all our players and all the requests. I’ve been dealing with it all week. And it’s just like, ‘The ticket office is closed. We’re ready to go and get our business done.’ I think it will be good
for our guys to get out of here. It’s definitely going to be good for me to get out of here. And for anyone that does have my cell phone number I will definitely be changing it .. ... That’s what I’ve been dealing with. So it’s now time to change the email. Time to change the phone number. And focus on getting down to business.
On coach Kyle Shanahan saying Friday that what impressed him when interviewing for the job was York’s determination to win:
York: It’s funny, because going into it I don’t know that either side looked at that meeting like, “OK, this is destined to be.” It was more of this is part of the search . ... He didn’t have direct familiarity, at least on paper, with the 49ers. But I think it became very, very clear within the first 10 minutes that we just saw how to build an organization in a very, very similar way.
His father (Mike Shanahan, former 49ers offensive coordinator) was here. (Kyle) saw the culture that Bill (Walsh) instilled in the late ’70s, through the ’80s and early ’90s. And even when Bill wasn’t here, his spirit and the 49er way was still a part of it. So for Kyle, the Mike Shanahan way is really a part of the Bill Walsh 49er way, was part of what I wanted. And I think that’s where we hit it off. And it was very clear in the first 10 minutes or so.
He talked about how much he loved our roster at that time and how talented he thought our roster was (laughter). But the knocks that you heard on Kyle when you did your reference checks and things like that was, “He thinks he knows everything.” You had those negative things, but he’s just honest and direct.
And it’s hard when you’re in my position to know if someone is being truly honest and direct and when someone’s kissing your ass. Kyle is very, very direct.
On how surprised he was at how quickly this all came together:
York: When we were able to draft Nick (Bosa), I thought that this was possible. Knowing that moves they had made, even going back to (former GM) Trent (Baalke). We invested in our defensive line. And that was something that was really, really important to Kyle was to have a Super Bowlcaliber defensive line. And when you bring Dee (Ford) in … and you’re fortunate enough to have a player like Nick there when you’re drafting second, you knew that you had a chance.
On what he would have said if someone had told him early this year that he would be in this position:
York: Talking to all of you guys, or going to the Super Bowl? If you said that after we drafted Nick, I’d say, “Yea, I think so, I think there’s a chance for it.” But this is always what we’ve worked for. So anybody that says, “We aim to go from 412 to 88,” that’s never what we’re looking for.
On this team’s “culture,” compared to that or previous teams:
York: Every team is different, every team is unique. I just think that you go back to Steve Young, when he talked to the team in Year 1 of John and Kyle, about “(Having) your back.” They took that to heart, the team took that to heart, and I think it’s become our mantra the last three years of, “I’ve got your back.” And I don’t know that there are many teams that have had it the way we’ve had it.
On how he used to say “Super Bowl or bust”:
York: We have one goal, we always have one goal, and I think any time you lower that expectation you hurt yourself and you hurt your team . ... I don’t think any of us will ever be perfect, but if you aim for it, you give yourself a chance to be great, and that’s what you’re shooting for.
On possible pitfalls in Miami:
York: I promised our players, our coaches, there’s a long time to be able to party after Feb. 2. We just have to stay focused and do our job this week and hopefully we come out on the right end of it.
On the difference in culture with this regime:
York: I think a great example is Reuben (Foster). I love Reuben. I wish that Reuben was still here. We gave Reuben opportunities, we’ve given a lot of guys opportunities, but we set our limit and said ... we have to move on from a talented player.
I don’t know that that would have been the case with every other coach or every other general manager — not just here, but across the league, because it’s hard to give up on talent. That, to me, is one of the defining moments of John and Kyle, being able to say, “This is a firstround pick, in our first year, and we moved on from it,” and it was hard, and we could have justified not moving on from it. There were other (players on previous teams) that have been in worse situations than what Reuben was in, but we knew where we had to be, and that, to me, you look at a defining moment for those guys, I think that’s a defining moment for the culture of this team. We are team first, and “We got your back” first.
On a possible trip to the White House if the 49ers win:
York: We have to get to that point. For me, personally, I respect the office of the president, and I’m not going to get into politics. I hope that we have that decision to make, and I hope that we have that opportunity, and I hope that we’re fortunate enough to get a call from the president to invite us to the White House.
On what makes John Lynch valuable:
York: He makes every team that he’s a part of better. He makes every team that he’s a part of a championshipcaliber group. We joke, and his nickname is Captain America, but like, that’s what he is, that’s who he is, he’s real, and a lot of people aren’t real when that’s their persona, but that’s him.
On Shanahan and Lynch as goodcop, badcop:
York: I’m not sure who the bad cop is. Kyle’s the direct cop, and I think that’s where people can make the mistake. Look, this isn’t a patyourselfontheback league. It’s, “What do you need to do to get better?” And I think Kyle’s very direct when he talks to players, when he talks to coaches, when he talks to me, when he talks to anybody, “Look, this is the standard.” Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler