Paraag Marathe Thread

I guarantee you we didn't re sign a lot of our players in the past 4 years because of Marathe's salary cap "architecture" aka be cheap and risk adverse, settle for a bad team

Paraag and his methods failed, the proof is in the franchise no matter how you look at it. The only thing left is the history of the team.

Ranked 122nd out of 122 sports franchises.

On what metric has he succeeded, I don't see how he can put his own performance through his own analytics and see success.

Originally posted by Joecool:
Not all employees work the way they are comfortable when the boss is in the room all the time. Either way, he's sitting in the room, absorbing things and still making bad football decisions.

1. Owner: Jed's job is to hire a PFO (Football Ops guy)
2. PFO: Paraag's job is to hire a GM and to communicate with GM about personnel and money...along with dealing with all other Operations that are out of the scope of the GM.
3. GM: His job is to manage his scouts and personnel and communicate with the head coach to fine tune things pertaining to personnel.
4. HC: His job is to manage his assistant coaches, game plan, and develop players.

#2 moving down to hang with #4 confuses roles and expectations. #4 moving up to #2 makes things messy. A good culture is all of those staying within their roles.

#1 can do whatever the f**k he wants because he's the owner. So, if all things football appear messy and the entire league thinks this team is dysfunctional, then the first place to go to when things are THIS bad is #2 simply because you can't fire the owner.

Except number 2 is also the analytics guy which creates problems if 3 and 4 do not agree with what his analytics say should be done.

Originally posted by Baldie:
Maybe Jed wasn't the biggest problem all along....maybe it was Paraag! I mean what exactly is his role? For someone that has a big title, you hardly ever see him. The only other times I've even heard his name is during player contract talks but isn't there another guy that handles contracts? Joan in accounting?

Paraag was initially hired by Jed's father. Would not be surprised if Jed does not have final say about Paraag. Almost seems like Paraag is John York's insider in the management team.

This is from a 2005 article

Marathe (pronounced mah-RAH-tay) became the unwitting victim of what many perceived as co-owner John York's NFL ignorance. It's a fact this business consultant from San Jose, via Cal and Stanford, impressed York after then- general manager Terry Donahue brought him in and was a big influence on the coaching search. But he is not expected to play a major role, as yet, in the organization.

Still, there was cause for wonder, when York didn't lean on someone such as personnel consultant Bill McPherson, who has been working for the 49ers for the past 24 years and has a 50-year association with football, to find and hire a head coach. Instead, York chose Marathe and assistant director of football administration Terry Tumey to assist him.


The more things change the more they remain the same

Originally posted by rdc1:

Originally posted by Joecool:
Not all employees work the way they are comfortable when the boss is in the room all the time. Either way, he's sitting in the room, absorbing things and still making bad football decisions.

1. Owner: Jed's job is to hire a PFO (Football Ops guy)
2. PFO: Paraag's job is to hire a GM and to communicate with GM about personnel and money...along with dealing with all other Operations that are out of the scope of the GM.
3. GM: His job is to manage his scouts and personnel and communicate with the head coach to fine tune things pertaining to personnel.
4. HC: His job is to manage his assistant coaches, game plan, and develop players.

#2 moving down to hang with #4 confuses roles and expectations. #4 moving up to #2 makes things messy. A good culture is all of those staying within their roles.

#1 can do whatever the f**k he wants because he's the owner. So, if all things football appear messy and the entire league thinks this team is dysfunctional, then the first place to go to when things are THIS bad is #2 simply because you can't fire the owner.

Except number 2 is also the analytics guy which creates problems if 3 and 4 do not agree with what his analytics say should be done.

So he holds 2 very key roles on one of the worst franchises in all of sports.

Dude needs to be fired.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
I guarantee you we didn't re sign a lot of our players in the past 4 years because of Marathe's salary cap "architecture" aka be cheap and risk adverse, settle for a bad team

Mike Iupati is a good example...first round pick that made multiple pro bowls...what else do you want???extend the guy before he becomes a FA...Why invest a 1 rd pick on a guy to only have him play out his rookie contract if he's a starter and made the pro bowl...

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by NinerGM:
Well Barrows is completely credible. Sounds like this WAS an issue and it looks like Marathe is a problem. I can't see any self-respecting GM coming in and giving up power to Marathe. I don't remember Jed saying that the new GM would report to Paraag and if that's the case, this is DOOMED and I'll pack my 49er fan gear and wait until the team is either given to another York or DeBartolo or the team is sold.

Jed-Paraag-GM-HC is a problem.

Totally, it automatically creates a toxic and untrusting relationship right out of the gate.

As a GM and HC, you're going to be reporting up to the EVP of Football Operations...but with no clear role on how this works. Where will Jed be and how much will he be involved?

Yet Parasg is leading interviews with Jed and they are hiring you. And then Paraag will be in on everything. Yet his expertise is the cap so you really need to have a great relationship with him especially if you're the GM.

But he's Jed's mole...his eyes and ears on the football side.

He's the equivalent to the Smoking Man on the X Files.

However I don't want to make him into too much of a boogie man.

If EVERY candidate demands autonomy, I don't think Jed will have a choice. We'll be able to tell by the type of person who actually comes here. Or will he have to watch a billion dollars burn before John and Denise figure it out.

It's not about complete autonomy. It's about "Let me do my job and you do your job."

Jed appears to have sat back after the Tomsula debacle but it seems as though he has not clearly defined Paraag's role to him, us fans, or anybody in the media.

Doesn't anybody care that clarification about Paraag's role is being avoided when asked by the media? Why is an owner or staff hiding this guys actual role?

Originally posted by NinerGM:
So just for the record, this isn't clear. Previously Baalke reported directly to Jed. Paraag didn't fire Baalke, Jed did. I just want that to be clear. Titles mean little, what's important is that there's a clear understanding with the chain of command.

Currently that's simply not known.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
So just for the record, this isn't clear. Previously Baalke reported directly to Jed. Paraag didn't fire Baalke, Jed did. I just want that to be clear. Titles mean little, what's important is that there's a clear understanding with the chain of command.

Currently that's simply not known.

How many teams in the NFL has the head of analytics, salary cap, and contract negotiations (functions we know for certain report to Paraag from his job description on the team web site) reporting directly to the owner and not to the GM? Not very many other than the one we know of (49ers).

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by Hitman49:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
I guarantee you we didn't re sign a lot of our players in the past 4 years because of Marathe's salary cap "architecture" aka be cheap and risk adverse, settle for a bad team

Mike Iupati is a good example...first round pick that made multiple pro bowls...what else do you want???extend the guy before he becomes a FA...Why invest a 1 rd pick on a guy to only have him play out his rookie contract if he's a starter and made the pro bowl...

I'm sorry guys but I can't get behind this one. Personnel moves came from Baalke and the "cheap" moniker kind of wasn't up to Marathe. When it comes to personnel, let's make sure we keep that squarely on the person who was responsible and was fired for it.

So you believe that a guy who has the title of President of Football Operations is only a contract negotiator and some other statistical things? I find it hard to believe that Jed has held everyone accountable but we know very little about the specifics of this guys role.

I don't know enough about what PM actually does in his role to have a strong opinion but I did look at several other team sites and they also have an Analytics person whose role sounds very much like what PM does. With the complexity of modern pro football, you need a "number cruncher" type person.

Again, it all comes down to the role of "the boss." I spent a lot of years in the corporate world and worked with people at varying levels. I didn't always like all the people that were above or below me but I learned to respect the job they did and not to try to tell them how to do it, only that we understand each other and the role each plays. That is what I believe Jed needs to do: Tell everyone to do their job and let the other guy do his. "You don't have to like each other but if you can't get along, I'll fire you both. Drama is not productive."

Your job is not about becoming good friends, although that is what often happens in very well run companies. Your job is to do your job AND get along with/support those around you.

Listen here, Acorn Head, convince your butt buddy, Jed and his folks to sell the team to Rob Schneider...

then all of you GTFOH

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by Hitman49:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
I guarantee you we didn't re sign a lot of our players in the past 4 years because of Marathe's salary cap "architecture" aka be cheap and risk adverse, settle for a bad team

Mike Iupati is a good example...first round pick that made multiple pro bowls...what else do you want???extend the guy before he becomes a FA...Why invest a 1 rd pick on a guy to only have him play out his rookie contract if he's a starter and made the pro bowl...

I'm sorry guys but I can't get behind this one. Personnel moves came from Baalke and the "cheap" moniker kind of wasn't up to Marathe. When it comes to personnel, let's make sure we keep that squarely on the person who was responsible and was fired for it.

So you believe that a guy who has the title of President of Football Operations is only a contract negotiator and some other statistical things? I find it hard to believe that Jed has held everyone accountable but we know very little about the specifics of this guys role.

I don't' think he had anything directly to do with personnel. Now he might have been the reason a guy wasn't signed b/c he thought the contract demands weren't up to his liking. But I don't think he was scouting players and making evaluations on who should be drafted and who they should target in free agency. But like you say we dont' know much about his overall role.

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by Hitman49:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
I guarantee you we didn't re sign a lot of our players in the past 4 years because of Marathe's salary cap "architecture" aka be cheap and risk adverse, settle for a bad team

Mike Iupati is a good example...first round pick that made multiple pro bowls...what else do you want???extend the guy before he becomes a FA...Why invest a 1 rd pick on a guy to only have him play out his rookie contract if he's a starter and made the pro bowl...

I'm sorry guys but I can't get behind this one. Personnel moves came from Baalke and the "cheap" moniker kind of wasn't up to Marathe. When it comes to personnel, let's make sure we keep that squarely on the person who was responsible and was fired for it.

So you believe that a guy who has the title of President of Football Operations is only a contract negotiator and some other statistical things? I find it hard to believe that Jed has held everyone accountable but we know very little about the specifics of this guys role.

I don't' think he had anything directly to do with personnel. Now he might have been the reason a guy wasn't signed b/c he thought the contract demands weren't up to his liking. But I don't think he was scouting players and making evaluations on who should be drafted and who they should target in free agency. But like you say we dont' know much about his overall role.

That's not my point. Fellas, I don't really care what Paraag does because, well, he's the President of Football OPs for the 49ers. Dude can do whatever the f**k he wants since he is almost at the highest rung of the ladder.

My point is, why the hell isn't he held accountable for being the President of a s**t show? Jed is the owner and taking all the bullets and hiding Marath for some reason.

Paraag has the most power other than Jed. I want his ass in the spotlight by the media because he is more responsible for the s**t show than Baalke is. Okay, Baalke is fired for doing a bad job. So, who do we hear from? Not the President of the 49ers. Why is he being such a p***y. He needs to be held accountable for his position and should be addressing the team.

So far, only our Head Coach, GM, or owner have addressed the state of the team. Where is the President hiding?

More from the 2005 article. He has consistently increased in authority since then. Note that personnel occupied 25% of his TIME IN 2005

York's golden boy

The industrious Marathe won the admiration of York, a licensed pathologist who admittedly relied heavily on his business background (running laboratories and race tracks) to steer his ownership of the 49ers.

"John is a scientist," a source close to York said on the condition of anonymity. "He loves proofs and statistical models."

In his projects, Marathe created graphs and charts that impressed York. After working with the 49ers for 18 months, Marathe befriended Jed York, John's eldest son. Seemingly, as the 23-year-old Jed became more visible at the 49ers' headquarters, eventually joining high-level meetings, so did Marathe.

Marathe's ascension coincided with the departure of Walsh and director of football operations John McVay, which could have been more than a coincidence. Privately, neither liked the statistical approach Donahue espoused. Marathe and his computer shot down Walsh and McVay's trade proposals during the 2003 draft. This didn't sit well with either man, who had built the 49ers' success partly on their impulses.

Contacted recently, Walsh didn't want to comment on the team's direction.

"Can a computer help determine who you pick on draft day?" Walsh asked. "I don't know, maybe it can."

Donahue also declined to comment.

As Walsh's influence faded, Donahue's system, which he kept secret for the most part, took root. Donahue and York allowed Marathe to hire interns to watch film and provide the scouting department with new statistics on players.

But Dennis Erickson's old-school coaches weren't informed of these hires. So they walked past Marathe's interns "breaking down" film and wondered what was going on.

In the meantime, Donahue instituted a "tick" system whereby coaches and scouts had to dole out ticks in their player evaluations and then a percentage was determined. Ticks were earned on production -- the number of catches made compared to passes thrown, the number of blocks executed, the number of tackles made when a player was in position to tackle.

Thus, it could be said that a linebacker made a tackle 83 percent of the time he had the opportunity.

Some scouts and coaches found the information useless and a distraction from actually evaluating what the player could do.

Meanwhile, York was making cuts to nearly every department, and seemingly the only area that was expanding belonged to Marathe.

Clash of styles

Coaches and scouts felt usurped and then frustrated when several of the draft picks weren't productive. Erickson lost confidence in Donahue's system, particularly in light of the disastrous results on the field.

Through all of this, Marathe feels that his influence was greatly misconstrued.

"What I do is only a tool," he said. "When you are making an investment of $20 million in a player, you want as much information as possible."

Marathe also maintains that the development of his area was never meant to minimize scouting.

"Nothing that was developed cannibalized our scouting or personnel," Marathe said. "If it did cannibalize that part of it, I wouldn't want to be involved in it anymore. Scouting is the lifeblood of the (evaluation process) and it always will be."

In fact, personnel only consumes a quarter of his duties, Marathe said. Most of his time is spent on salary-cap analysis.

Nevertheless, Marathe was asked by York to lead the head-coaching research, and his profile skyrocketed.

Marathe studied 120 coaches to determine where the most successful NFL coaches come from, and what makes them excel once they have the job. Along with other factors, Marathe discovered that coaches who were with successful teams and worked with winning coaches made the best future coach.

The 49ers' short list of candidates was determined partly by Marathe's criteria. The interview process included a meal with John and Jed York, and then a sit-down with John York, Marathe and Tumey. York ultimately determined the next man to lead the 49ers.

York said Marathe was involved in the head-coaching interviews because York trusted him. Marathe had helped billion-dollar corporations hire CEO's when he was at Bain, and like it or not, an NFL head coach must have CEO characteristics in today's NFL.

It might have been assumed Marathe would influence York to hire a coach who embraced Marathe's statistical program. Of the five candidates, Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was the most enamored of statistical analysis and Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Nolan the least.

Nolan was hired, and even though Marathe will have significant say in salary-cap matters, he's not the power broker many assumed he would be when he was included in the interview process.

"I think Paraag is clearly the salary-cap person and negotiator, I don't think at this point in time that Paraag has the experience to be the general manager," York said. "I think over time that he could."

A win for Marathe

With Donahue's dismissal, the personnel department has been granted more freedom in its evaluation process. A team of three high school coaches was assembled by Marathe to watch film and determine the "ticks," not the coaches or scouts. Nolan, who will help hire the personnel head, is likely to favor a man with more NFL football grounding than Donahue possessed.

Nevertheless, Marathe will continue to make a mark on the organization and many within the building believe that could be a positive.

"The only environment where you'd be ashamed to have an MBA from Stanford is the NFL," said Kirk Reynolds, the team's director of public relations. "He's a guy who can bring a different thought-process."