49ers demote team president Paraag Marathe

The San Francisco 49ers have demoted team president Paraag Marathe, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.

Marathe was in his second season as the 49ers’ president. During his first season, he helped sign quarterback Colin Kaepernick to a six-year, $114-million contract. Oops.

Demoting Marathe seems to open the door for the Niners to hire a new team president during the offseason. Whom do you think the Niners would be interested in?

This article has 107 Comments

  1. Tom Gamble will become 49ers new president. Jed realizes he needs a football guy. Bye bye Trent Baalke as well! This is great news!

    1. I always felt that Tom Gamble would be the ideal person to take over. Not sure if he dumps Trent Baalke as I think it was Baalke who re-hired him back to the 49ers.
      What will look promising is if indeed he does control the draft and free agency.

    2. Well, Fans,

      I was slightly off, it’s not business weeks President the York’s are hiring, it’s simply a matter of a lateral Trasfrer of Paraage to oversee the construction of Sacramento’s professional soccer team, The Republic’s new 250 million dollar stadium in downtown Sac, in which Marathe and the York’s own an interest/shares in…I speculated it was a Brazil deal…At least I saved fans from the letdown, only to inform them it was all about the money–follow the money!

    3. 49ers Classless and Clueless and going under:

      For the 49ers to go out of their way to disrespect a member of the press, stooping for the lowest form of pettiness is another sign all is not well. They remind me of the Baseball team Robert Duvall worked for in “The Natural.”

      One other thing. I’ve known PM a long time. Always liked him. He is likable. But the last year or so, whenever we pass each other, he starts doodling with his cell phone. Really won’t talk to me. Or look at me. Ted Robinson won’t talk to me either. I’ve only known him 35 years and we’ve been friendly. It seems when a person — me — writes critical stuff about the ridiculous 9ers organization, the entire group ostracizes him/her/me. So small-minded and frankly rinky dink. I take getting ostracized by this bunch as a badge of honor, thank you.

  2. You mean life doesn’t revolve around an equation–there’s room for intuition based on experience-longevity in the chosen profession?…What about man does not live by bread alone?

  3. Is this simply going to be more scapegoating or is this going to be a move to get a football guy in to run the football operations or is this Balke winning a power play? We probably won’t know for sure until after the season is over.

      1. Grant what do you think of Tom Gamble? Is he a guy who could take over all football operations?

        1. Gamble’s next career step is more likely a GM job. If anything (and the Niner’s follow their past hiring practices) they could promote Baalke and put someone like Gamble in at GM.

          But I also read that Al Guido is filling the “administrative duties” part of the Team President position.

          1. I agree with that in Al Guido is not a football guy. More suited for the business side of things. That’s why I wonder if Tom Gamble is in the picture for a prominent role in scouting, drafting and free agent acquisitions. All under the watchful eye of Maarathe and Guido.

      2. The pattern… Pretend to conduct a nation wide search, then hire an internal candidate. That’s how it was with after McCloughan, Nolan and Harbaugh got canned.

        Replacing Singletary was an outlier because Harbaugh was such a hot HC candidate, right in the 49ers back yard.

        1. I’m not pretending for a moment I have an idea who would be a good replacement for Marathe. Heck, I’m not even 100% sure what his exact job duties were.

          I have known for quite some time he’s an analytics guy with major influence in decisions. I linked quotes from him from the MIT Sports Analytics conference a few years ago. He’s a major proponent of replacing mid-talent vets with rookies, because of the (relatively) new rookie cap makes year 1-4 players more valuable managing the overall cap.

          Candidates to replace him? I have no idea. I was glad Tom Gamble joined management team, but I’m not going to pretend I know alot about the guy.

          Anyone know of national candidates they’d like to see working with Jed?

          1. Marathe, looking at the bottom line, saw the 12.8 mill Kaep salary next year and decided he could get by with Gabbert and his paltry salary. PM started the Kaep rumors to drive him away, it was just his modus operandi for business negotiations, but Tomsula loves Kaep and wanted him to stay. Thank God Tomsula won.

            1. Senynah do you really think or are you just hoping the 49ers will continue on with Colin Kaepernick as their future QB?

              1. When fully healed, and allowed to utilize his skillsets that accentuate his strengths, Kaep can be a formidable weapont.
                Dont know if Kaep wants to return after being stabbed in the back, but he does have talent. Those analytics tried to force him to be only a pocket passer, but now he is free from them, he might want to stay.
                Marathe and his leaks may have succeeded to drive Kaep away, so they do not have to pay him 12.8 mil, but if that happens, the Niners get nothing because he would be untradable, and kaep would be free to sign elsewhere.
                So my question in return is- Do you want Kaep go to the Rams and their defense, and have to face him twice a year for the next 10 years? He might be a little motivated to stick it to the Niners, just like Haley did with the Cowboys.

              2. I would not be afraid if Colin Kaepernick went to the Rams. I would almost welcome it because its gonna take a lot of revamping to get him to be a functional QB in this league.
                Blame the 49ers all you want about not giving him the best situation to excel, but at the end of the day, he never got better as a football player.

              3. FDM, I blame the analytics. Now that they are kaput, good things will happen. Just watch next game and see how Tomsula coaches the game.
                I cant wait.

              4. Analytics are a very important factor when it comes to the math of scoring. I dont think you ever discount them. As for Tomsula and analytics, by trashing them will it make the team more ready to play on the road? Will it improve tackling? Will it eliminate penalties?

              5. Analytics are good for evaluations, but during gametime when bullets are flying, coaches relying on analytics just freeze up. I want a coach who can fly by the seat of his pants. He must think quick on his feet. Above all, he must make quick analysis and quick adjustments.
                The Niner coaches should go bold. DO NOT SETTLE FOR FIELD GOALS. They should go for it. They should be confident that the team can make 2 yards, and devise multi option plays to ensure that goal.
                Now that Marathe is gone, I will not see Tomsula hold up 3 fingers and bow his head.I wanted him to keep Gabbert out there and drop 2 fingers while looking up to the press box.

              6. Seb, you’re gonna be sooo disappointed when you see there’s no difference to the way Tomsula coaches.

              7. Grime, that is why they play the game. If it is different, I fully expect you to acknowledge my prescience, just like I will lament the same old same old, with same old results if it does not change. I hope he goes with his guts.

              8. Just curious Sebnayah how do you think it will be different? I think they should employ the John Harbaugh philosophy and no matter what, always go for it on 4th down!

            2. Seb

              Did you by chance ‘ghost’ write for Tom Clancy ? Your ‘Save Kaep’ scenarios are truly funny…and seriously misguided…throw in a Unicorn or two…

              1. Imagine if Kaep went to the Broncos. With their defense, Kaep could make it to the SB many times, and even win a few.
                Then the Niners will realize that they screwed themselves by throwing away their best chance to return to the SB.

              2. Win a few SB’s in Denver? Seb how do you win multiple SB’s when the QB cannot read defenses or throw with accuracy? Come on man, enough of the exaggerations on #7. He’s done in Frisco,move on!

              3. Prime, analytics can be broken down as an exercise in semantics.
                Analytics- Anal- “nuff said. ly- as in lies. and Tics- blood sucking parasites.
                Glad Coach Tomsula gave him the boot.

          2. Brodie I would love to see Jed hire Bill Cowher as VP in charge of football operations. He comes from an organization that knows how to syay on or near the top for a very long period of time and his work with the NFL network has kept him close to the game. imho

            1. OldCoach,

              I think Cowher is done with Coaching and anything else to do with working for a team. He seems content with the TV job according to everything I’ve read.

              1. Coach, I agree with Rocket. Cowher has had many good opportunities to return to coaching, but has turned them down. Maybe he does not want to tarnish his legacy, after such good success with the Steelers.

              2. Rocket and Seb He has turned down numerous “coaching” offers but as far as I know he hasn’t been offered any front office positions. From what I understand the biggest difference between front office jobs and coaching\GM positions is time. HC’s and GM’s work 100 hr weeks and about 48 weeks a year while a FO job entails more of a regular work schedule. I believe that Cowher has turned down the coaching positions because he doesn’t want to commit to the time it takes. If Jed makes him a financial offers that triples or quadruples his NFL network money he might just come back. As far as his reputation goes I don’t believe now he is a viable candidate for the HOF but if he could turn around the 9ers organization and win them a couple more SB’s he could just end up in the HOF.

              3. Old coach when has Bill Cowher ever built a team from the ground up? Good coach and motivator but team builder? I don’t know about that.

              4. FDM, that is another reason why he would not come here. Takes a lot of time and energy to build from the ground up. Cowher is just not hungry enough.

  4. We will never know the whole story, but my take is that Paraag pushed hard for the hiring of Tomsula and Jed is waking up to the fact that it was a huge mistake. Some reports have indicated that Tomsula is a huge proponent of the analytics that Paraag is always pushing. It is easy to see how a very smart operator like Paraag would have more and more input into game decisions. I suspect that mission creep finally caught up to him and everyone noticed he was responsible for many bad decisions.

    Now will this reshuffling make any difference on the field? I am not hopeful.

    1. I read exactly the opposite in one of many articles today – that Tomsula was at odds with Paraag because he didn’t agree with the statistical approach to football.

      Step back and think about it anyways. Do you really think Tomsula is the analytical type? I doubt he can do crosswords puzzles, much less internalize statistical correlation analysis.

      1. According to @SoCaliSteph, Jim Tomsula didn’t come to work on Wednesday. An NFL coach not showing up to the facility four days before a game is unheard of, but that’s apparently what happened. Tomsula was originally scheduled to speak to the local media on Wednesday at 10:30 am.

        Getting word about some possible massive chaos in the 49ers front office. Massive.

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        Tony Bruno ‏@TonyBrunoShow · 11h11 hours ago
        @timkawakami @sportsradiopd were they watching the ending of that GB-Det game when the chaos occurred?

        That didn’t happen.

        On Wednesday, the schedule was changed and Tomsula’s mid-week press conference was moved to Thursday at 10:30 am. Local media was told that Tomsula was absent due to a family matter. Was Tomsula’s absence was due to a disagreement with Paraag Marathe? It’s hard to say, but things are going insane in Santa Clara.

    2. I beg to differ. Tomsula hated the analytics, but implemented them because PM told him to. Tomsula finally put his foot down, and told Jed he would resign if PM stays. Jed, having an iota of common sense, realized that losing Tomsula would be catastrophic. Tomsula missed the PC, forcing Jed to choose. Jed chose well.
      Tomsula probably found out that Marathe was the leaker of the Kaep info, and went ballistic.

      1. Not to be a naysayer. We’ve been down this fire and new hire road before, only to build up speculative hope,only to be slapped down by the York’s secret in-house candidate nobody expected, like the janitor.

    3. Leo

      What big mistake ? Who could have taken this team with it’s retirements, trades, waivers, firings, and other subtractions and come up with a better result than Tomsula..? Some on here enjoy mocking his speaking skills, how he appears (butcher), his decision-making, etc., but who could do better ? Personally, I think he’s doing a hell of a job as head coach.

      I believe that some FO frump put the thumb down to play Kaepernick, and so spoiled any chance to redeem this season. Sound silly ? Read some of your own posts…not intended expressly for you Leo….

      1. Oregon,

        You always defend this team in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and that is your right, but if you honestly think Tomsula is doing a hell of a job you haven’t been watching the games. He’s been a terrible HC in pretty much ever aspect of the job and a is a very large reason they are where they are.

  5. @timkawakami Could this be a signal that John and Denise are going to take power away from Jed? (I realize they are not selling the team)

    Tim Kawakami : I’ve gotten no indication of that. Everything points to this as a Jed move.

    Tim Kawakami Retweeted Ian
    My understanding is that Jed is distancing himself a little from Marathe… and is now closer to Al Guido.

  6. Well, Fans,

    I was slightly off, it’s not business weeks President the York’s are hiring, it’s simply a matter of a lateral Trasfrer of Paraage to oversee the construction of Sacramento’s professional soccer team, The Republic’s new 250 million dollar stadium in downtown Sac, in which Marathe and the York’s own an interest/shares in…I speculated it was a Brazil deal…At least I saved fans from the letdown, only to inform them it was all about the money–follow the money!

    1. However,

      49er fans will be happy to learn that the York’s/Marathe investment in the Sac Repulic is a tax write off for the funds earned at Levi Stadium, and the 49ers will not lose a dime earned from Levi Stadium…We all know as fans those funds will be reinvested by the York’s into hight priced Nfl free agents for the 49ers and their Super Bowl run, don’t we?

      1. Or is Paraage’s “Billy Ball” analytics formula still in play here, like the A’s used it for in the movie, “Billy Ball.” Intriguing, isn’t it?

  7. Biggest Kaep hater…but how can you say “oops” to them signing Kaep to the deal that they did? His contract is extremely team friendly and its whats going to allow them to get out from it this offseason… Also, how much crap would they have received from you and people of your ilk had they not resigned him? At the time of his signing everyone was on board with him being the next great thing in the NFL.

  8. Hey Grant – Lots of reports that Tomsula and Paarag had a big blow up on Wednesday and that Tomsula left 49ers HQ and blew off his Wednesday press conference (We know the press conference part is fact). Then this news hits Thursday night. Why are more people not discussing/reporting the link between these two? Seems like there is A LOT more to this story….

  9. Meaningless PR move which will have zero affect on the team. It is like giving a cop 2 weeks of desk duty after shooting an unarmed teen .

    york needs to move away from football operations. baalke needs to unceremoniously hit the road.

    1. Rollo I’m with you 100% if you were the king of the world who would you choose as the next VP in charge of football operations, GM and HC.

    1. TrollD, glad you admitted that you are shunned and ostracized. Even gladder you carry that as a badge of honor.
      Have a nice day.

  10. I’ve created a semi-arbitrary ranking of teams interest in a QB in the upcoming draft:

    Near lock to draft a QB in the first round(barring a trade for one,looking at you Philly)
    -Cleveland
    -Philadelphia

    Teams that will draft a QB in the 1st or 2nd if they are the BPA
    -Santa Clara
    -Houston
    -St. Louis
    -Dallas
    -New Jersey

    Teams that are likely to use a high pick(late 2nd, 3rd) on a prospect
    -Chicago
    -Arizona
    -San Diego

    Teams that could jump into the first tier based on coaching and front office changes
    -Detroit
    -K.C.

    This isn’t to suggest that I think 12 teams are going to draft a QB in the first 3 rounds but to map out who are the QB contenders. If we can count on the Browns and Eagles drafting in the 1st who then are the most likely teams to take a third or even 4th QB in the first and/or who is likely to trade into the 1st to snatch one. If only one or two QB’s go in the 1st I’m guessing we’ll see a big rush in the 2nd.

  11. Not much will change until we see who replaces Marathe full time. If Al Guido takes on the post then not much changes really. They have to hire a football operations President and let him hire the personnel staff and Coaches or this is just a reshuffling of people that aren’t qualified for the jobs they have imo.

    Great point by John Middekauf about this. He pointed out how anything to do with players or Coaches are normally reported by National reporters like Schefter or Glazer, but this was not. More fuel to the Marathe as the source of the leaks observations.

  12. I wouldn’t normally be strong on a coach that was 9-10 in the playoffs until you realize who his QB was for most of those games.(Hint; he’s really good in the regular season and chokes in the tournament)

    Anyway the 49ers need to hire Tony Dungy. He’s the right man for the job. He’ll fix the team and fix the team’s image all in one hiring.

    1. Good suggestion but I think Dungy is in the same mode as Cowher. The TV thing pays well and the work is minimal. I’d really like to see them target somebody who has been involved with the best run organizations and overhaul the way the Niners have been doing business. Razor’s suggestion of Nick Cesario was a good one, Eric DeCosta from the Ravens is a good name. Even a link to the past would be worth exploring like Holmgren if he’s interested. Just somebody who knows the game and has contacts within the league to acquire good people to work here. With the lousy rep this team has garnered the past couple of years it will take a complete overhaul to resurrect the teams standing in league circles.

      1. You’re probably right about Dungy’s back side being firmly planted in a studio chair. I’m sure there will be plenty of good candidates I was looking for someone that was not only qualified but would also bring instant respectability to the team. Not sure that the names Cesario or DeCosta carry the same impact.

        The only way Holmgren would be able to come here is if Baalke was out. No way those two work together, Holmgren would want near total control or say over his players.

        1. Probably right about Holmgren and Baalke not working together and Baalke should be part of the purge anyway. I wouldn’t want Holmgren being in charge of the Personnel either. I would just look at him as a face of the front office and somebody who could hire a GM to take on the Personnel and Coaches hiring roles.

    2. His football philosophies are very different from Baalke. Is Baalke gone too in your scenario?

      1. I don’t know that they are so divergent in styles that they couldn’t work together. I think it would be possible to bring in Dungy if Baalke was still around. Ideally Baalke would be gone too but that has nothing to do with my choice of Dungy.

      2. Dungy comes from the Schottenheimer tree. Marty Ball employed a run heavy offense that really only used the pass to further open up the run game. If you ask me that just summed up the 49ers offense of the past decade or so.

        When you look at some of the other coaches in the Schotty tree they all employ similar philosophies that you would recognize from this team and from a lot of Parcell’s teams as well. Run heavy with an emphasis on strong defense.

      3. If the Niners win 3 of the next 5 games, I think he stays. The Niners did lose 5 starters on offense and 6 starters on defense. The talent drain was disconcerting, but the loss of leadership hurt even worse. Losing Willis, Gore and Cowboy was huge. That is why I wanted them them to pay Gore a fair amount instead of insulting him with a pittance.
        Surmising about the past drafts, I wonder if AJ Jenkins was an analytics pick. It sure was a head scratcher at the time. Then this last year when everyone and their cousin were predicting drafting a WR early in the draft, then they get an ACL pick in the 4th. you gotta wonder. Actually, the whole ACL strategy is pure analytics. If Baalke somehow manages to hang onto his job, and if he drafts Myles Jack, I will scream.

  13. Matt Barrows ✔ @mattbarrows
    Jim Tomsula seemed to hint that C Daniel Kilgore would be moved to the 53-man roster Saturday. He’s making the trip to Chicago w/ the team.

      1. If he’s healthy and ready it’ll be good for him to shake off some rust before the offseason. The only thing it could really hurt is the 49ers draft position. Unless they’re rushing him back, which I see no reason for them to do.

    1. Analytics can pertain to game management, but it also details decisions about personnel and play calling, so aspects of analytics can be defended, but when he goes with his gut feeling, then he is playing instinctual football, and not Madden.

  14. Good, now Maraathe is relegated to bean counting duties – which is something he’s inherently good at.

  15. The more I read about this, the more I think it is meaningless as far as the operation of the team goes. Those of you speculating that at this point the Yorks are planning to bring in someone to improve the football product are jumping to conclusions, in my view. In the past, they were forced to do so when they were building the stadium, that is, bring in a persona like Harbaugh. But once the seats were sold, they reverted to the way they seem to prefer to operate, that is, in mediocrity. Being a dominant franchise requires sacrifices they apparently are unwilling to make. While it is true that one could argue they are “demoting” Paraag because they see seat holders starting to boycott games, most fans do not associate him with the product, so that does not make sense to me. Maybe they are starting to worry about that, but to appease seat holders they would have to fire Tomsula and/or Baalke, which would mean eating major crow so soon after firing Harbaugh. I think we will have to wait until the end of next season before they go for the changes some of you are talking about. On the other hand, if Gabbert continues to improve and Baalke turns the oline around — not farfetched at all — we might never see it. With the rest of our talent, a team like that could compete for the division, although I think we would get into the grove of being constant “also-rans,” in other words, just good enough to sell expensive tickets. That’s probably what they are banking on at this point. Bottom line: Niner fans like us are screwed.

    1. The only way moving Paraag will help is if it’s part of rebuilding, or creating for the first time, a York football structure for the 49ers. Someone with the football smarts and concepts to reshape the personnel and coaching practices with outside talent working under a coherent organizational plan. That person also needs the power to build for the long run and not to need to satisfy Jed’s ego on a season by season basis.

      Plug and play parts are not going to work. I think hiring Harbaugh proved that. He wasn’t hired to be part of the long term future of the 49ers.

  16. notice there were no rumors preceding Parag’s ouster. Which lends credence to the reports that he was the rumor guy.
    Not sure what this means for the 49er future. Going into wait and see mode.

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