Carmen Policy, the legendary former 49ers executive who was at the helm during four Super Bowl winning seasons throughout the 80s and 90s, joined The Audible Friday morning to talk about the current state of the organization.
Policy said that he is saddened and hurt by 49ers fall from grace, and that if things are going to turn around, it is up to ownership to make a decision about where their priorities really lie.
“Ownership has to look in the mirror and say ‘okay, what is it I truly and honestly want to do in terms of defining this franchise, and what is the culture I truly and honestly want to create,’” Policy said. “If they are capable of doing that and they are capable of being honest with themselves. They’re smart people. They just have to then say alright, how do I go about accomplishing this.”
“If having a franchise that is very profitable, able to conduct itself in a fashion that’s going to shall we say, always be kind to the bottom line, then you just stay on that path and you stay true to that path and you let the situation develop in terms of the on-field performance as it does. And maybe you’ll get lucky. Maybe things will come together and you can make it work.”
“On the other hand,” Policy continued. “You could say first and foremost I want to build a winner and that’s where I’m putting all my resources, that’s where I’m putting all my serious attention, and that’s where I’m going to get the best people, and I’m going to try to do as perfect a job as I can bringing the right people in and then I’m going to trust my decision and let those people do their job.”
“I also think that ownership has to basically, not only be willing to spread any of the good stuff that goes around to everyone, but be able to absorb some of the heat that comes with the bad stuff. You’ve got to be part of the team. You’ve got to be part of what happens, good and bad. Just like the players like to know everybody in that locker room has their back. Ownership has to have the back of the organization and the organization has to have the back of ownership…I think that you just have to make a commitment to winning and that becomes priority number one.”
During Eddie DeBartolo’s reign as owner from 1977-2000, winning was always priority number one, including when it came to business decisions.
“Everything that would come up when I would sit down with Eddie and we’d come up with a budget or we’d talk about possibly bringing in this person or that program or this concept, he’d look at me and say okay, ‘how does it really improve our chances of winning,’” Policy said. “If it didn’t get beyond that first question of how does it improve our chances of winning, it was taken off the agenda.”
Listen to the full interview below.