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"Tom Cable's history of violence against women raises a question: why is he still the head coach of an NFL team?" Terry O'Neill, the President of NOW, told USA Today. "Mr. Cable admits having battered his first wife, and he stands accused of battering two other intimate partners as well. As a survivor of domestic violence, I know that women do not make such accusations lightly. Indeed, women have much more to lose than to gain by coming forward to tell their stories.
"The Oakland Raiders, properly, say they are undergoing a 'serious evaluation' of these recent allegations. At the very least he should be suspended during this process. . . . A man who has admitted battering his wife has no business being a role model for all of us who would like to be able to look up to the head coach of an NFL football team."
Though the problem of domestic violence is very real and should not be minimized, the fact that the incident to which Cable has admitted occurred more than two decades ago gives us some concern. .
So the NFL faces a difficult dilemma in this case. Given that Cable has struggled as a head coach and in light of the fact that defensive assistant Randy Hanson emerged from an August meeting with a broken jaw, it makes sense for the Raiders to sever ties with Cable in light of the totality of the circumstances.
A far thornier dilemma will arise if/when an NFL head coach with no history of assault allegations and a solid won-loss record faces outdated but meritorious claims of domestic violence. Cable surely isn't the only NFL head coach who ever has snapped under the stress of a job premised in large part on physicality. Indeed, we're surprised in hindsight that similar claims haven't previously been made against other NFL head coaches.
Now that multiple women have gone on the record regarding Cable, we wonder whether any of the former wives and girlfriends of other NFL coaches will do the same.