Tom Cable: Good, Better, Best Comparisons with Selected Two-Year Coaches

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Is Tom Cable the best NFL coach during his two-year tenure with the Oakland Raiders? Are others doing better during their two-year tenure?

The focus of this article is to do selective comparisons of Tom Cable with other NFL coaches with only two years experience in the head coach position.

First, Tom Cable's win-loss percentage is not the worst for a two year career as head coach.

In the group studied in this selection, some head coaches had win-loss percentages lower than Cable. Numbers such as .2, .071, .133, .267, .2 are in the list.

This series of numbers make Cable look above average with his win-loss percentage of .3, to date.

There are other coaches during the history of the NFL whose numbers were .667, .588, .458, .842, .469, and .435.

This series shows us that the win-loss percentage can be as high as .842 for a head coach with only two years under his belt.

Elgie Tobin coached 23 games, with 16 wins, three losses, and four ties, giving him a win-loss percentage of .842. 

Tobin coached during the early years of professional football in the United States. We admit that so much has changed since the early years.

Tobin is historical in more than one way. Wikipedia said:

"In 1920 , Tobin coached the Pros to win the first ever NFL Championship. The very next season, he split the team's coaching duties with Fritz Pollard , making Pollard the first African-American coach in the NFL."

A cluster of data listed before and after Tom Cable in an alphabetized list is posted:

No. in list     G     W     L     T     W-L%

28               14   1     13    0     .071

35               10   3     7      0     .3

40               32   13   19     0     .406

43               15   2     13     0     .133

47 Cable       20   6     14     0     .3

49               32   15    17     0     .469

51               30   8      22     0     .267

There have been 449 head coaches in the history of the NFL. The data is comprehensive.

Other comparisons are forthcoming. A series of articles making selective comparisons will be posted for your consideration.

In the 21st century, we don't have to guess about who is good, better or best. We have ways of measuring to find our answers.

So far, we know our coach is not the best, but he is not the worst. Perhaps, he is "just right" for the part of his tenure with our beloved Oakland Raiders. He has a young coaching career, and a young team.

It is reasonable to say, that both the coach and the team are experiencing "growing pains." Time will tell the whole story...wait and see.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?