(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Prior to one of the biggest games for Oakland this season, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at the man who is representing us on the sidelines. A good coach with an upside similar to the players on the roster.
Tom Cable- 02-03-09
“I’m honored to have the privilege and the responsibility to be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. I look forward to getting to work and working hard to bring a championship to Oakland. To the fans at Raider Nation…Listen to me, it’s time we came back to you with a team you can be proud of every Sunday. So everyone in that stadium has an energy level and excitement like no other. You’ve been great fans in the past, and it’s time for us to give you something back, and that is a great football team.”
Cable’s Interview April 2009
“You know when I was a college coach, and that was over, I wrote myself a letter to know what I would do next time, and the number one thing was ‘be yourself.’ You learn a lot from a lot of people, I admire guys like Bill Parcells, guys like Vince Lombardi, I’ve studied a lot about him. Bill Bellicheck, Mike Shanahan, those are all great, great coaches. So, you study them, you watch them and all that, but at the end of the day, you just got to be you.”
Who is Tom Cable?
“Someone who loves the game, loves what it’s about, and likes to have fun. I like to work hard; I think everything good comes from hard work. Just enjoy today, that’s the most important thing.”
What is it like working for Al Davis?
“Working for him for a year and four games, I really did understand that whole passion about ‘just win,’ what that means, and for me it was an easy transition in terms of that. It hasn’t been that craziness or whatever it is that people think, it’s been more: this is my issue, how can I help him or how can he help me. I’m not afraid to pick up the phone and call him and ask him, and he’s been great.”
How do you get this team back to what it was?
“I think you ground it, you get it back to the fundamental stage of what it is to succeed, what does it take? The last six weeks (of 2008) we really reached some of those things like playing for each other, caring about each other. The selfishness kind of dissipated, we became about winning the day, that 1-0 thing I believe in and playing for each other, doing it with honor.”
What is the 1-0 philosophy?
“Win today, whatever it is today, do your best today, whatever’s happened in the past, or what is out there in the future does not matter. If you win today, you’ve done enough.”
“I think for us to challenge for the division, I think that’s reasonable, our goals aren’t any different than anybody else’s, to win a Super Bowl, which means you get into the playoffs, which means you won your division, or close to it. I think the thing that is most important to me is becoming a factor in the AFC West; a real factor.”
“I think the people of Oakland are as hungry as we are as a coaching staff and as a team to have success. I think that’s the biggest thing is that; this is a great game no matter where you’re at, but it’s a lot of fun when you’re winning and I think that’s the thing that excites me the most is that we can do that now, and I look forward to it.”
“We all got good players, they all get paid lots of money, they all have good coaches, so it’s a matter of getting past the B.S. and putting that aside, and keeping it real, and what’s real is trying to get a championship.”
10-12-2009
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