Everything David Tepper Said About the Decision to Fire Matt Rhule
Opening statement
"These days are never easy. I had a conversation with the coach this morning. It was short, cordial. He's a gentleman - a true gentleman. I then had a conversation with Steve Wilks and named him interim coach."
How much involvement Tepper has in finding a franchise quarterback
"Look ultimately, I'm the head of the organization, and ultimately, I always bear responsibility. I'm not the person that makes those decisions. I'm brought into those decisions. We will find and we may have that person right now. But I believe we will have that person eventually."
Finding the next head coach
"We are far away from that right now. We have a lot of season left. I'd rather talk about the season right now. Steve Wilks is the coach."
If Steve Wilks can get the head coaching job full-time
"There's a lot of season left and we'll see how the season goes. Ultimately, he's in a position to be in consideration for that position. I had a talk with Steve. No promises were made, but obviously, if he does an incredible job, he has to be in consideration for that."
If the amount of Niners fans and the fire Matt Rhule chants had anything to do with the decision
"There's numerous reasons why you make a decision. There might of been a little bit of loss of intensity on the field yesterday. I would say that was probably evident versus the first four games. I have great respect for the fans and I do hear the fans but ultimately that can't be the reason why you make a change like this."
Why he lost confidence
"A lot of time has passed here. We have the record we have and there's different reasons that go into that. I think that there has been progress of some sort but look, we're just not getting over the hump and we got to get over the hump."
Why Steve Wilks was named interim head coach
"It's good to have somebody internally that's familiar with the team and with the people in the building, so to speak. Steve is a leader of men. He has experience as a head coach. And I thought he was the best candidate in the building for that role."
Realistic expectations for Steve Wilks this season
"I think we always have an expectation to win. That's never changing. Steve is familiar with the team. I have confidence in him and we'll see."
How hard the decision was while wanting to remain patient
"It's a funny thing, patience. If you ask the average fan out there they think I was ridiculously patient on both these situations here. I think you have to show the right amount of patience and see the progress that's made. Are we winning more? Are we progressing in different ways? I think, unfortunately, like I said, got over that hump. That's what it is."
If firing Phil Snow was Steve Wilks' decision
"Usually a head coach gets to choose his coaching staff. I was informed that he might want to make these changes and I wanted to give him some time to think about it. He thought about it and he did it, so you should talk to him tomorrow."
What direction he wants GM Scott Fitterer to take
"We have to be very careful about how we use our limited resources. We have $200+ million in salary cap. We have how many [ever] draft choices we have. So we, we, including me, have to be more diligent in how we do that."
Why he had confidence in Matt Rhule this past offseason
"I thought just flexibility in the staff. Again, there has been some improvements as there's always some improvements, but not enough. We're obviously not getting over the hump, so that's the bottom line."
If the next head coach will have as much control of the 53-man roster
"I think a balance is probably more appropriate between the head coach and the GM. A better balance."
If Scott Fitterer will remain the General Manager
"It's a little premature to ask those questions. Scott is our GM. There's no thought of mine right now. Right now, my focus is Wilks and helping him have success in the new role."
Having and maintaining success
"I think as an organization, we have to maintain patience in roster building. We are in a limited resource business. We have the same amount of money to spend as the next team. Nobody has more, nobody has less. We have the same amount of draft picks as the next team. Nobody has more, nobody has less. We have to make sure we use that as best we can."
If he would do a 7-year contract again
"I don't really want to talk about contracts. But, in a lot of things in this game, it might make more sense to be more conforming in some ways. On the other hand, look, it's about taking chances and taking risks sometimes in life. Sometimes things work out and sometimes you learn from those risks. So if you don't take chances, you don't take risks, you don't win usually."
If a college coach would be considered for the job again
"I'd like to see what Steve Wilks does, quite frankly. I'm not going to generally rule that out. On the other hand, there is a history of successful coaches in the NFL. You can look it up. Every fan can look it up. I'm aware of what that is and I have to be cognizant and pay attention to that."
If this team is close to contending or needs to rebuild
"I think we have to figure out how to get a culture of winning here. Which we haven't had in a long time in this place. And as I've said some point, we never have won, this town, this team, has never had two winning seasons. So I don't think it ever really had a real culture of winning. There are a lot of good areas of strength on this roster right now. And I think that they're better than they were a few years ago but we have to put it together and we have to get over the hump."
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