Fred Wilpon was more hands-off than ever before during the Mets’ search for a new manager.

“I was not directly a part of this process,” Wilpon said yesterday at Citi Field after new general manager Sandy Alderson introduced Terry Collins as the team’s skipper. “I didn’t go to any of the interviews and I did that purposely, since I probably would have in the past.”

Wilpon said it was easy for him to take on a lesser role because of the front office Alderson has assembled, and though it’s been less than a month since the owner handed the keys over to his new GM, so far he likes what he sees from the regime.

“Last week at the owners’ meetings in Florida, everybody I talked to said we had among the best, if not the best, top-level

management in all of baseball,” Wilpon said of Alderson and his two top deputies, Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi. “It’s a process. There’s more thoughtfulness now, no knee-jerk [reactions]. I’m not suggesting every decision is going to be right, but it’s going to be a considered choice.”

Wilpon also said that team COO Jeff Wilpon played “a part, but not a big part,” in the decision to hire Collins, before adding that he supported the move to bring in the new manager.

“I like his experience and enthusiasm,” Fred Wilpon said of Collins. “He knows how to teach the game and play the game right, and I think that’s really important.”

Collins said yesterday that he’s become more patient since his last major league managerial job in Anaheim 11 years ago and Wilpon agreed.

“I watched him all year as the [minor league] field coordinator and watched him previously from other vantage points, and this year he looked like a man who made mistakes in his life but has learned from them,” Wilpon said. “I kind of got that feeling from Terry. I saw his demeanor with players and coaches. He had a great relationship with them and you could see he communicates well. I’m pleased.”

And he approves of the direction the organization is heading.

“It’s not that we had a bad culture here,” Wilpon said. “People point to that only because of some incidents, but also because the team didn’t win. Winning is always the bottom line, and now I feel the process is more buttoned-down and we have highly experienced guys executing it.”

dan.martin@nypost.com