personnel

Jed York - Is the GM search a sham?

0

The 49ers are either creating a huge smoke screen to conceal their true desire to hire someone other than Trent Baalke as their general manager, or their GM search is a sham. Yet another league source said Baalke's hire was a done deal. Not only that, reports and sources say his hiring has been in the works for several weeks.

That isn't sitting well in some NFL circles as team president and CEO Jed York continues to interview candidates just so he can say he did his due diligence. Potential "candidates" have to feel that York is simply wasting their time.

The strategy is darkening an already gathering cloud over Baalke's promotion, which isn't fair to him. Certainly the caustic comments on this and other blogs along with the anger expressed on sports talk radio mean the Baalke era will begin amid a miasma of bad feeling in the fan base.

Trent Baalke seems to be the next 49ers general manager.

Trent Baalke seems to be the next 49ers general manager.

On KNBR this week, York has already tried to prepare the ground for planting Baalke and whomever they hire as their head coach by comparing Baalke to Atlanta's general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith, two unknowns before they revived a franchise in turmoil after coach Bobby Petrino's controversial departure.

However, Dimitroff came from outside the Falcons organization, and a successful one at that. He served as the Patriots director of college scouting from 2003-2007 before his hiring in Atlanta. When he was hired by the Falcons, he had over 18 years of experience with several different teams and three leagues. By comparison, Baalke has 13 years of experience, the last five with the 49ers. Unfortunately, Baalke can't bring in a fresh set of eyes to look over the team's roster, and since he has been with the team, he carries the stain of its failures. Baalke will also function without the benefit of a veteran sounding board.

Read More 'Jed York - Is the GM search a sham?' »

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | December 30 2010 at 11:17 AM

Listed Under: personnel | Permalink | Comment count loading...