At least publicly, 49ers CEO Jed York seems to be more willing to talk about his past missteps. He told NFL Network on Wednesday that he deserves the blame for the team’s free fall over the last four seasons, and admitted that he needed to change course after firing three head coaches in three consecutive years.
York was in the news again Wednesday upon the release of his appearance on famed NFL writer Peter King’s podcast, where he talked about former head coach Jim Harbaugh, and some of his regrets regarding their relationship. He also said, per John Harbaugh’s suggestion, that he’d like to sit down and have dinner with Jim and bury the hatchet. As transcribed by Anthony Ly of Niners Nation:
“I actually talked to his brother John briefly at the owners’ meeting and he said, ‘You know, you guys need to get together some time and have dinner,’ and I said, ‘I’d love to do that.’ I’d love to get together,” York told King. “And I think enough time has kind of passed where you can let whatever issues were there be buried and just truly be thankful for three great years when nobody expected us, certainly in 2011, to beat the Saints the way we did, to get close and, you know, be two muffed punts away from going to a Super Bowl in ‘11. Just all the things that happened.
“I’d love to sit down with Jim. Not in front of cameras, not in front of anybody else, but just share an evening with him and truly say thank you and wish him the best of luck. Not obviously when he plays Notre Dame, but for the rest of the season, wish him the best of luck.”
York said he doesn’t necessarily regret “parting ways” with Harbaugh, but that he regrets what happened with the relationship towards the end. York does, however, stand by his previous statements that the team tried to give Harbaugh an extension, despite reports that they had no intent of keeping him long term.
“I don’t know if ‘regret’ is the right word,” he said. (Jim and I) had a lot of success together. We tried several times to get an extension done with Jim and, for whatever reason, those didn’t culminate. And, ultimately, as successful as he was here, I think Jim is very happy. He’s doing an unbelievable job at Michigan.”
“I regret how we performed the last two years. I regret the relationship was frayed between me and a coach that did a lot of great things for the franchise.”