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SANTA CLARA — Speaking on the same stage where he stood after the last two seasons to explain the dismissals of Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula, 49ers CEO Jed York vowed Monday to find the next general manager and coach worthy of ending the franchise’s 22-year Lombardi Trophy drought.

York spoke for 27 minutes, a day after the 49ers announced the firings of general manager Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly, following Sunday’s 25-23 home to the Seattle Seahawks that wrapped up a 2-14 season.

“We need to make sure we get it right,” York said of the search’s ideal timeline. “I don’t expect it to happen tomorrow but when we find the right combination of people we’re going to make sure they get hired.”

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49ers pay Santa Clara $5.5 million in owed rent for Levi’s Stadium York, speaking in a contrite tone and channeling the frustration of his fan base, said the impending hires are ultimately his call.

No assistant coaches or personnel members have been fired but they are free to leave and their futures are otherwise at the discretion of the next regime.

At one point, York was asked why he wasn’t being dismissed.

“I own this football team. You don’t dismiss owners,” York said. “I’m sorry that that’s the facts and that’s the case, but that’s the facts. I’m going to do everything I can to get this right.

“This isn’t about a business and running an operation to make money. We’re making sure we’re doing everything we can to re-establish this culture.”

York echoed those words earlier in the morning while speaking with players in the same auditorium and offering them a chance to field their concerns.

“He gave us time and nobody raised questions,” center Daniel Kilgore said. “He’s the boss. You don’t question your boss, do you?”

York informed players via text message after Sunday’s season-ending loss that he had fired Baalke and Kelly, the latter of whom York said he met with for 90 minutes. York also summoned some players to his office individually throughout Monday as they cleaned out their lockers.

Several players agreed with York in the need to change the culture, and veterans such as Kilgore, offensive lineman Zane Beadles and quarterback Christian Ponder noted that the young players needed to be held more accountable and take their job more professionally in terms of learning the playbook.

Even amid a franchise-record 13-game losing streak, the 49ers locker room was not a mournful place. Players sang songs, blared music and played ping pong while other teammates conducted media interviews. Over the past week, bean bags flew in a cornhole game that was added to the locker room.

Were players, mostly younger ones, having too much fun? “I wouldn’t necessarily say that,” said defensive tackle Quinton Dial, a fourth-year veteran. “We’re only in the locker room ‘X’ amount of time. We’re in the classroom the other half of the day.”

Only about 25 percent of the players were in the locker room during Monday’s final media access, most of those being veterans.

“I agree with building a winning culture,” Beadles said. “It’s not easy to do and it takes time, but it’s something that needs to happen.”

The 49ers are now searching for their fourth coach in four years, and they last looked outside for a personnel czar in 2005, when they hired Scot McCloughan with new coach Mike Nolan. Once McCloughan left in March 2010 for personal reasons, Baalke assumed personnel control and was elevated to general manager on the cusp of Harbaugh’s January 2011 hiring.

“We need to be open and flexible to structure,” York said. “We need to know the coach and general manager need to have a good respect and understanding of each other and have a similar vision in building a football team.

“Doesn’t mean that they had to have worked together in the past, but they have to have a good respect for each other and a good understanding and know that they have similar visions and philosophies on building a football team.”

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What does York want in a general manager? He wants someone who can not just evaluate talent but understand the culture around the team and emphasize accountability. Those characteristics were called into question in the wake of 12 player arrests since 2012.

Baalke will never be confused for a master communicator, regardless of which coaches he worked with in seven seasons as personnel czar.

York last held a press conference last Jan. 4 after firing Tomsula as coach the previous day once the 49ers concluded a 5-11 season. “Chip’s going to be here for a long time, period,” York said that day.

The search for replacements is already underway, and York will conduct interviews alongside his long-time confidant Paraag Marathe, the 49ers’ chief strategy officer and former president. York said he has and will consult with 49ers legends, intimating that includes Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, as well as Ronnie Lott, Brent Jones and Harris Barton.

“For better or worse, I know some of the candidates and have interviewed them over the previous years,” said York, who’s interviewed over 15 candidates from the past two coaching searches. “It would be nice to have a methodical way to go through and build the (search) the way you want. … We need to talk to the right people at the right time when available.”

New England Patriots player-personnel director Nick Caserio is reportedly on the 49ers’ interview list, as are Green Bay Packers’ Eliot Wolf (director of football operations) and Brian Gutekunst (director of player personnel), according to multiple reports. Kansas City Chiefs counterpart Chris Ballard removed himself Monday from consideration, NFL Network reported.

The 49ers have a small window to interview assistants who are in the playoffs, so it should be no surprise they’re linked to a hot pair of offensive coordinators: the Patriots’ Josh McDaniels and the Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Shanahan. A league source said interviews are being set up for those two, along with Buffalo Bills interim coach Anthony Lynn, who interviewed last year with the 49ers before they’re hired Chip Kelly.

The 49ers did not plan to divulge the name of any candidates until after formal interviews take place. Fox Sports first reported that McDaniels will interview with the 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars, doing so from the Patriots facility in Foxborough, Mass. Shanahan, NFL Network reported, will meet with those same teams as well as the Denver Broncos, where his father, Mike, won back-to-back Super Bowls as their coach.

So what went wrong with Baalke and Kelly?

York said Baalke was defensive minded, Kelly was an offensive mind and, “the marriage didn’t work, and I probably should have seen it,” York said.

Speaking inside the team’s auditorium at Levi’s Stadium, York opened by apologizing to fans for the 2-14 season and more upheaval, all in an effort to find a more successful regime.

“They’re going to have a very, very long leash in terms of making decisions,” York said. “There are no sacred cows here, whether that’s in the personnel department, on the coaching staff, in the locker room. They need to be able to reestablish a championship culture and that’s going to take time to reestablish a championship culture.

“Again, I’m not doing this so we can get to 8-8, to get to 9-7 and say, ‘See, we turned it around. We’re good.’ My ultimate goal is to win a championship, win multiple championships, and that’s the foundation that we need to lay and that’s what we need to build for.”

York has been involved in all coaching searches dating back to at least 2005, when the 49ers hired Nolan.

“I know Jed wants to get it right,” wide receiver Torrey Smith said. “He’s going to continue to take a lot of heat because there’s been changes a few years in a row. But you know how much this franchise means to him and how much he wants to be successful.

“He’s committed to starting completely over.”

— Colin Kaepernick’s status for next season was not broached during York’s press conference, nor was Kaepernick in the locker room Monday after clearing out his locker Sunday night. Kaepernick, in his postgame media session Sunday, left open the possibility of returning for next season rather than opting out of his contract to leave in free agency.

— Wide receiver Torrey Smith said his post-concussion symptoms (light sensitivity and headaches) are lessening after a Dec. 11 fall that forced him to miss the final three games.

— Center Daniel Kilgore said last month’s hamstring surgery should not keep him from participating in the offseason program that begins in April.

— Ponder said he would have liked to have taken his first regular-season snap since 2014 but added, “I was fortunate to be on a team. I sat on my butt last year.”

— Wide receiver Jeremy Kerley, 1 of 17 pending free agents, reiterated his desire to re-sign: “They want to build a winning environment here so I respect everything that happened.”

— The 49ers placed 20 players on injured reserve since training camp, leading to a slew of replacements by season’s end. Said Smith: “Yesterday we scored a touchdown and I’m all, ‘Good job Kap, good job Staley’ and I looked at one of the lineman and was: ‘Who the hell is that?’ ”

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