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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 29, 2010

NFL: Tom Cable says he will return as coach of the Raiders


By Steve Corkran
Contra Costa Times

Raiders coach Tom Cable, ending a prolonged silence over his job status, said in a radio interview Thursday that he has no doubt that he will continue in his current capacity for the 2010 season.

Cable spoke for about 11 minutes with KHTK-Sports 1140-AM in Sacramento on an array of topics that he has avoided since his season-ending news conference Jan. 4.
Cable has refused all interview requests from Bay Area media, save a brief, off-the-cuff remark earlier this week to a TV reporter camped in the parking lot of the team’s year-round facility in Alameda.
“I don’t think there was ever any question,” Cable said, when asked if he expects to be the Raiders coach next season. “That, really, was more speculation than anything else. It’s never been a thought in my mind.
“We went at this thing every day, whether it was discussions with the owner or discussions with the staff, that we were moving forward and getting ready for 2010. So, it’s never really been an issue for us.”
Maybe not, but it remains an issue to managing general partner Al Davis, according to senior executive John Herrera and several other people familiar with the situation, some of them close to Cable.
What’s more, Cable openly discussed concern over his job status minutes after his team’s season-ending loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 3. At the time, Cable said he had no idea whether he would be back, saying, “Hey, it’s Al Davis, so you never know.”
Thursday, Cable said he and Davis have had “a lot of conversations” since the season ended.
“We’ve talked about where we’re at as a football team. . . . We really never have had discussions about what would or wouldn’t happen. It’s just always been about evaluating the Oakland Raiders,” Cable said. “I don’t know that at any time he’s ever said he was going to change or he wasn’t going to change (coaches). It’s just an evaluation process that every team goes through.”