Tom Cable

Thomas Lee Cable Jr. (born November 26, 1964) is an American football coach who last was the offensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL), and who had been head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2008 to 2010.

He previously served as the Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach and offensive line coach.

The Seahawks would win Super Bowl XLVIII over the Denver Broncos.

He graduated from Snohomish High School in 1982 and accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Idaho from first-time head coach Dennis Erickson.

Cable played on the offensive line for the Vandals for head coaches Erickson and Keith Gilbertson, blocking for quarterback Scott Linehan.

Idaho won the Big Sky title in 1985 and advanced to the Division I-AA playoffs in 1985 and 1986.

Cable played college football at the University of Idaho and was on the replacement team for the Indianapolis Colts during the 1987 NFL players' strike.

He was a member of the Indianapolis Colts' strike replacement team in 1987, but did not play in the two games he was on the team's active roster.

Cable then embarked on a career as a college football coach.

He was a graduate assistant for three years and an assistant coach for a decade, ascending to offensive coordinator at Colorado in 1999.

That December, he became the head coach at his alma mater, with a three-year contract at $170,000 per year ($120,000 base and $50,000 media bonus) plus $30,000 in incentives.

He succeeded fellow alumnus Chris Tormey, who had departed earlier in the month after five seasons for Nevada.

At Idaho, Cable's first year in 2000 was his best, with a 5–6 record.

He managed only six victories in the next three seasons, resulting in a disappointing record of .230 in four losing seasons.

Behind his lines, the Seahawks running game ranked fifth in the NFL with 1,212 rushing yards (Weeks 9–17), and posted 100-plus team rushing yards in eight of its last nine games, including a six-game streak that was its longest since the 2002–03 seasons.

Seattle's line once ranked as the third-youngest in the NFL, but with injuries to rookie James Carpenter, John Moffitt, and Russell Okung, the Seahawks' offensive line finished as the seventh-youngest in the league.

Despite that, Cable plugged away and maintained a solid unit as Seattle’s line paved the way for Marshawn Lynch's career-year with 285 carries, 1,204 yards, and 12 rushing touchdowns.

Following the three-win 2003 season, Cable became the first Idaho head football coach fired in 22 years; his four predecessors had all achieved success in Moscow and moved on.

Cable then became the offensive coordinator at UCLA for two seasons (2004–2005) under head coach Karl Dorrell, a former colleague at Colorado.

Lynch also led the league the last half of the season with 941 yards and nine touchdowns, rushing for 100-plus in six of the last nine games, and became Seattle’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Shaun Alexander in 2005.

Cable won his first Super Bowl ring as an assistant coach to the Seahawks.

Cable has become synonymous in recent years for transitioning players with little or no experience at offensive line and quickly making them into NFL starting-caliber offensive lineman.

Cable entered the professional ranks in 2006 as the offensive line coach for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, under head coach Jim L. Mora, who was dismissed at the end of the season.

Cable joined the Oakland Raiders as offensive line coach for the 2007 season, under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin.

The Raiders rushing attack ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in 2007 (sixth) and 2008 (10th) behind Cable's offensive lines.

After being an assistant coach for several college football teams, as well as head coach at Idaho, Cable became an offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons and Oakland Raiders of the NFL before serving as head coach for the Raiders from 2008 to 2010.

Born in Merced, California, Cable played high school football in Snohomish, Washington, northeast of Seattle.

Four games into the 2008 season with the team's record at 1–3, Kiffin was fired by owner Al Davis and Cable was named the interim head coach.

The Raiders finished the 2008 season with a 4–8 record under Cable, but improved statistically in many categories.

On February 4, 2009, Cable was officially introduced as the Raiders new head coach.

Davis had made his decision nearly a week before, but did not want to interfere with the Super Bowl.

Davis also gave Cable time off prior to that due to the death of Cable's father.

On January 4, 2011, Raiders' owner Al Davis informed Cable that his contract would not be renewed, ending his tenure with the organization.

During his time as head coach, Cable had a .380 record, including a record of 8–8 in his final season.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson succeeded him as head coach.

Two weeks later on January 18, 2011, Cable was hired by the Seattle Seahawks as offensive line coach and assistant head coach, under head coach Pete Carroll.

In collaboration with offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, the two spearheaded Seattle's rushing attack to become one of the best over the last-half of the 2011 season.

His first player was J. R. Sweezy, a collegiate defensive end that Cable drafted in 2012 and switched to an offensive guard in seven months.

The second was Garry Gilliam, whom Cable signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014.

Gilliam had one year of experience as a collegiate offensive tackle and was a tight end since age 7.