The League

Raiders promise 'serious evaluation'

UPDATED (8:19 p.m.)...

The Oakland Raiders issued a written statement Monday saying that they and the NFL "will undertake a serious evaluation" of the latest allegations against Coach Tom Cable.

Two women, a former wife and an ex-girlfriend of Cable, told ESPN that Cable had been physically abusive of them in the past.

Cable denied most of the accusations but acknowledged once striking his former wife with an open hand.

According to the Associated Press, Cable said Monday he expects to remain the coach of the Raiders.

"I'm coaching the Raiders and I think my future is to be the coach of the Raiders," Cable said, according to the AP.

The Raiders' written statement said in full: "Over the last few days, we learned of the allegations made against Coach Cable and we are, of course, aware of his response thereto. In conjunction with the League office, we will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter.

"We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged.

"There have been occasions on which we have dismissed Raider employees for having engaged in inappropriate conduct. For reasons of privacy, we kept the basis for those dismissals confidential. We endured public opprobrium for the dismissals, all the while knowing our basis for them was appropriate."

The Raiders also issued a separate written statement saying that ESPN's reporting of the story "must be carefully examined."

That statement said in full: "ESPN's role in this matter must be carefully examined. ESPN routinely disseminates falsehoods about the Raiders. During the last year, ESPN (working with someone who was in this organization) engaged in a calculated effort to distort the truth about the Raiders, utilizing lies and innuendo."

The women made the allegations against Cable in separate interviews with the ESPN program "Outside the Lines."

Former wife Sandy Cable sought a temporary order of protection against Cable in 1989 which said, according to ESPN's report, that "on two occasions, one back in '86 and the other in '88, he hit me. The second time in the face, however on attempts to call law enforcement, my husband would rip the phone out of the wall."

Sandy Cable told ESPN that she called police when she was married to Tom Cable but didn't receive support from law enforcement in Idaho, where they lived at the time.

"I was quite young, didn't understand the system," Sandy Cable said, according to a written account of the network's report on its Web site. "This was prior to domestic abuse being a big issue... before mandatory arrest laws."

Marie Lutz dated Cable as recently as January, ESPN reported, and told the network that he hit her "three, four times."

The network reported that Lutz was treated at a hospital for back pain and a contusion following a Jan. 6 incident in which she arrived at Cable's house in Alameda, Calif., and found another woman there. According to ESPN, Lutz told police that Cable grabbed her by the arm, causing her to fall to the ground, and later picked her up and pushed her out the door.

Lutz did not press charges, ESPN reported.

Carol Cable, who married Tom Cable in May, said in a statement issued through Tom Cable's attorney that she was the woman at Tom Cable's house that morning and Tom Cable did not "commit any act of violence" toward Lutz. The two had a "verbal exchange" in which Lutz threatened to ruin Tom Cable's career and life, according to Carol Cable's statement.

ESPN reported that another former wife, Glenda Cable, accused Tom Cable in divorce documents of being physically and verbally abusive of her in the past but said in a statement Saturday through her attorney that Tom Cable "has never been violent to me or our children."

According to ESPN, Tom Cable issued a statement Sunday in which he said only once in his life had he touched a woman "inappropriately."

Tom Cable said in the statement, according to ESPN: "More than 20 years ago, during my first marriage... I became very angry [at his first wife, Sandy] and slapped her with an open hand. What I did was wrong and I have regretted and felt sorrow about that moment ever since. Since then, she and I have worked together to raise a successful and happy daughter.

"The incident involving Ms. Lutz, in which she came to my home uninvited, was fully investigated by the Alameda Police Department and I cooperated fully with that investigation. I never battered her in any way. The police concluded, correctly, that I had done nothing wrong and that was the end of the matter. It is most unfortunate that ESPN has given Ms. Lutz this forum to revisit this incident when I did nothing wrong and further chose not to provide me with an appropriate opportunity to respond."

This year, Tom Cable was accused of breaking the jaw of a Raiders assistant coach, Randy Hanson, by knocking Hanson from a chair into a piece of furniture during a training camp incident. But the Napa County, Calif., district attorney announced that Cable would not face criminal charges for the incident, indicating that Hanson's allegations were not verified by other witnesses.

By Mark Maske  |  November 2, 2009; 8:10 PM ET  | Category:  League , Raiders
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