Jim Tomsula on Paraag Marathe’s demotion: “(Bob Lange) didn’t even tell me if it was rumor or fact.”

SANTA CLARA

This is the transcript of Jim Tomsula’s Friday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department.

 

Opening comments:

“[RB] Carlos Hyde and [TE] Garrett Celek will not travel with us. That’s the extent of that. Anyway, questions?”

 

Has there been any, I know we just asked you this yesterday, but has there been any decision on G/C Daniel Kilgore? How has he looked this week?

“Well, we’ve got until tomorrow afternoon to make any of those decisions and we’ll wait until that time. But, Daniel will be on the flight with us.”

 

Will WR DeAndre Smelter make the trip?

“I don’t think so.”

 

And when you say by tomorrow afternoon–?

“Yeah, your Saturday afternoon will get screwed up.”

 

Why don’t you just save us 24 hours?

“We’ve got a couple guys we still want moving around and things like that too.”

 

Do you have any reaction to the news of yesterday that 49ers team president Paraag Marathe would have a different role within the–?

“He was just briefing me on that on our way over here from the deal. No, I don’t have any. I don’t have any knowledge. I don’t have any comment. I don’t have anything. You didn’t even tell me if it was rumor or fact. It’s an article or something. So, no I don’t have any clue.”

 

Do you work with him at all? Analytics is his specialty. Has he worked with you on–?

“You mean day-to-day with Paraag and things like that?”

 

Yeah, more game-management concepts.

“No. I mean, early on, years ago he was really involved in it and we did some things. I was able to be in meetings that he was a part of in those things, the analytics, the factual time and stuff like that, which I thought were really good and very interesting, but not recently. [49ers director of football administration and analytics] Brian Hampton I deal with more in things like that, but that’s all upstairs. But, Hamp comes down, that’s the guy that we meet with. Him and the analytics crew right there.”

 

How much of your game-management decisions are based on their research, the analytics department?

“So much of it, to me, is gut and feel and those things. Obviously, the absolutes in math on where you can save 20 seconds here or 30 seconds there, obviously we pay attention to. It’s conversation. It’s meetings. It’s going through scenarios. What they do a great job of is all the different scenarios every week that go on and putting those, Hamp will come down and he’s got them all for the year and we do that in the offseason and we go through them all and talk about the scenarios, put the film on and go through all those things. Again, you can only do so much of that. OK, yeah, you want to do this here, but you’ve got two O-Linemen and a fullback not up or down at that point. There’s so much stuff that’s not black and white. So, this conversation is very good.”

 

Curious about the, we asked you a couple times about the Seattle situation when you guys were down 16 points late in the game. Your decisions, were they backed up by numbers?

“Yes. Statistics, yes.”

 

So, you relied on analytics–?

“Statistical information and the analytics right there, yes. It was backed up. And every decision that we make, I find out. And we’re not going to go through all those here and I’m not going to do it in the media, but that’s information that I ask for. [Tight ends coach] Tony’s [Sparano] involved there with me as we study those and then Hamp comes down. We go through those every week.”

 

How much do players go through that stuff too?

“We try to present those to the players. There’ll be meeting times, you know, situational things in the meetings. A lot of it in the offseason. You saw that where we were putting different situational things on the scoreboard and doing those things. And then during the season, we’ll go through. Obviously, not as comprehensively. You’ve got to do a lot of that beforehand, a lot of that in training camp, which you all were there to see. But yeah, I mean that’s obviously part of the game. What’s the score? Where are you on the field? What’s the down and distance? OK, where are we at? You need all those things. So, we’re constantly talking in that way.”

 

ME: A report came out this morning that you didn’t show up Wednesday morning due to friction with Paraag Marathe. Is that true?

“That is absolutely false and I was at work, what day was that? What day did this happen?”

 

Wednesday.

Wednesday. OK. So, between 4:00 am and 4:30 am, I drove through the gate. I was late for practice this week. I got there for the team periods. But, I have not missed a day of work.”

 

You said you drove through the gate at what time?

“Well, if it was Wednesday, it would be between 4:00 am and 4:30 am.”

 

In the morning?

“Yeah. In the morning.”

 

In the morning and then you left and came back?

“Yeah.”

 

ME: A report also came out that you and Paraag butted heads on the topic of analytics.

“Absolutely false. Untrue.”

This article has 6 Comments

  1. Just like the niners front office, trot Tomsula out in front without anything to say about a major front office reshuffling. Yes, he looks bad in front of the press, but they sure don’t help him. Well, maybe they do help him and that is the best he can do. Poor man.

    1. Paraage’s analytics told coach T when to punt at Seattle. Will they tell us the optimal stand in line for a vegan dog without a traffic jam?

  2. http://ninernoise.com/2015/12/04/49ers-reassign-paraag-marathe-from-president-role-per-report/
    The 49ers will continue to be the joke of the NFL as long as the business suits are calling the plays–TomD

    Per the report, Marathe is a big fan in NFL analytics and his involvement with the play-calling based on statistical evaluation and advanced algorithms — elements exceeding his work in just contracts and the replay booth.

    Oh yeah, that was his responsibility too.

    Marathe’s approach didn’t sit well with former head coach Jim Harbaugh which, in turn, rubbed York and Baalke the wrong way also. So, I suppose, the “mutual” decision to part ways with Harbaugh was, in reality, football related in some way or another.

    And apparently Marathe’s influence wasn’t going over well with head coach Jim Tomsula either.

  3. JimmyT is so eager to not know what he shouldn’t know. Then there is the stuff he just doesn’t know.

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