SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Speaking on the same stage where he explained the firings of Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula the previous two Januarys, San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York vowed Monday to find the next general manager and coach worthy of ending the franchise’s 22-year Super Bowl drought.

York spoke a day after the 49ers announced the firings of general manager Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly following Sunday’s 25-23 loss 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.”

York 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 was not 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 air 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?”

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 pingpong while other teammates conducted media interviews. Bean bags flew in a cornhole game that was added to the locker room a week ago.

Were players, mostly younger players, 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, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that.”

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 as executive vice president to partner 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.”

What does York want in a general manager?

“First and foremost it’s going to be a relationship between head coach and general manager,” York answered. “The characteristics of a general manager need to be someone that can evaluate talent, create culture and communicate well.”

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 longtime confidant Paraag Marathe, the 49ers’ chief strategy officer and former president. York said he has and will talk 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 had interviewed more than 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.”

Chris Ballard and Nick Caserio, the respective player personnel directors for the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots, emerged Monday morning as interview candidates for the general manager job, according to multiple reports.

Although the next GM likely will be tasked with hiring the 49ers’ fourth coach in four seasons, the 49ers have this week to interview assistants who have first-round playoff byes, so it should be no surprise they are among three teams linked to Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels, who balked at the 49ers’ 2015 overtures, is expected to interview with them as well as the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Anthony Lynn, who finished this season as interim coach of the Buffalo Bills, will interview with the 49ers for a second straight January, as well as with the Los Angeles Rams, according to ESPN.

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 the mostly calm and controlled press conference by stating: “First I want to let the fans know I apologize for a 2-14 season, I apologize for being back here again making a change, but I think it’s important we re-establish a championship culture.”

“This isn’t acceptable to me. It’s not,” York added. “Our fans deserve better than this.”

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.”