Tom Cable accused of violence; Is his time almost done in Oakland?
Tom Cable is in the news again. Two women, including his former wife and recent girlfriend, gave interviews to ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and stated that the current Oakland Raiders’ head coach acted violent towards them during their relationships.
Sandy Cable and Marie Lutz talked about Cable being physically abusive.
This comes after Napa County district attorneys stated that they would not pursue any charges against the coach regarding an alleged incident in which Randy Hanson accused Cable of breaking his jaw during an attack. Gary Lieberstein cleared Cable citing inconsistencies in Hanson’s story that were not substantiated by any of the witnesses in the room at the time of the alleged altercation.
In 1989, Sandy Cable sought a temporary order of protection that stated, “On two occasions, one back in ‘86 and the other in ‘88, he hit me. The second time in the face, however on attempts to call law enforcement, my husband would rip the phone out of the wall.”
Lutz dated Cable earlier this year, commenting to ESPN that the head coach hit her, “three, four times,” and recounting an incident in which he “just got so angry I could not recognize him.”
Lutz also detailed an incident in which she confronted Cable regarding him seeing another woman and that Cable “grabbed her by the left arm, causing her to fall to the ground” and “eventually pick[ed] her up and pushed her out the front door.”
On Sunday, Cable disseminated a statement through his attorney Donald Yee, stating, “on only one occasion in my life have I ever touched a woman inappropriately.”
“More than 20 years ago, during my first marriage, I became aware that my wife Sandy had committed adultery. I became very angry and slapped her with an open hand. What I did was wrong and I have regretted and felt sorrow about that moment ever since,” Cable said in his statement. ” … The incident involving Ms. Lutz, in which she came to my home uninvited, was fully investigated by the Alameda Police Department and I cooperated fully with that investigation. I never battered her in any way. The police concluded, correctly, that I had done nothing wrong and that was the end of the matter.”
Yee also questioned ESPN’s fairness in going with the story stating: “In our view, ESPN has quite purposefully chosen not to provide a fair and balanced story.” He continued, “To us, this represents ambush journalism and utterly fails to meet the standards and practices of responsible journalists.”
Cable, 44, is 6-13 since taking over as interim head coach early in 2008 for the Silver & Black and being hired this off-season to lead this team full-time.
ANALYSIS
This situation, compounded with the Hanson scenario and the way this crop of Raiders has performed, does not bode well for the future of Tom Cable. Oakland is facing a record seventh straight losing season with 11 or more losses in 2009. And the head coach has been in the news all season for all the wrong reasons. The continual negative aura around the team compounds the misery in this organization.
His handling of JaMarcus Russell and the offense has been uninspiring. The team has always rallied around him and they seem to enjoy playing for him, but the lackluster efforts and coddling of some of the talents on this roster may be the reason why this team just can’t put together solid efforts or sustain any positive results they accomplish.
Constant change is never good along the sidelines in this league. Especially when most of your building blocks are young and still trying to develop into starters at this level. But Oakland may need to severe their ties with a coach who is the subject of such controversy and that can’t bring the stability that is needed to get this organization back to respectability.
