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I remember the commercials like it was yesterday — a new era in Vandal football had arrived and at the helm was Idaho coach Tom Cable. “Are you ready for Cable vision,” or “Are you Cable ready,” were slogans that had Vandal football fans not only excited, but ecstatic about what the future could hold.
That was in 2000, and I know it seems like a lifetime, but it was in fact only eight years ago. So who cares? The Raider Nation should as they are going to get a dose of Cable vision soon thanks to Al Davis.
The Cable era at UI was not a memorable one. It was down right frustrating most of the time and was the beginning of a downward spiral that the UI team is still trying to get under control. Cable was the first to grab a shovel and dig, not knowing just how deep he could get before sending the program into its current state.
Cable inherited a team that just two years earlier won the Humanitarian Bowl under coach Chris Tormey and finished second in the Big West in 1999 with a 7-4 overall record.
It was a good time for Vandal football.
2000 was UI’s last year in the Big West Conference. During that season, Cable coached the team to a 5-6 overall record. The team beat Washington State and it appeared things were in place to continue as they had. Then something went drastically wrong.
When Boise State left the Big West for the Western Athletic Conference, it put the Big West under the six team minimum required by the NCAA effectively destroying the league.
The next move? To put Idaho into a newly formed league, the Sunbelt Conference, with teams that were spread out across the United States.
The league was sweet and gave UI a chance to play against the likes of North Texas University and the University of Louisiana-Monroe, or Lafayette for that matter. It seemed as though the sky was the limit, and we’d really taken the proverbial bull by the horns on this one.
It didn’t turn out nearly as well as we’d hoped.
The Vandals’ first year in the Sunbelt was a forgettable one that produced only one win.
The team did have some good things going for it though.
One thing in particular, an all-conference quarterback in Brian Lindgren. Lindgren was something to watch. One game I remember in particular — a 70-58 loss to Middle Tennessee State Community College, or something like that — proved Lindgren could be the quarterback of the future at UI.
During that game Lindgren threw a record 71 passes and completed 41 of them with 6 being touchdowns. This is the stat that still sets my mind ablaze: Lindgren threw for an unheard of 637 passing yards — that was just one game.
Lindgren also threw six touchdowns in another game later in his career against San Diego State. He still sits in the middle of the pack in a number of UI career statistic categories even though his career was cut short by, well, Tom Cable.
At this point, things still looked like they were on the up and up to me. My friends and I chanted for more as the offense put up ungodly numbers and gave fans hope of things to come.
The next season was different. There was a new face at quarterback, the younger brother of NFL quarterback Joey Harrington, Michael.
He was not as good as Lindgren, (actually, it would be like comparing John Kitna to Joe Montana) but Cable stuck with him through thick and thin amassing five wins in the next two seasons and driving the once proud Vandal program deeper into the ground.
Our cheers quickly turned to jeers, and we came up with slogans of our own for the coach. Primarily, “Cut the Cable” was chanted every game before, during and after. Each loss brought us closer to losing faith.
When he was fired, I had hoped never to think about that time in Vandal football or him again.
Now, Al Davis will give Cable another shot at proving he has what it takes to be a head football coach. I wish I was in Raider Nation right now to hear what they think.
I noticed Joey Harrington just signed a contract with the Saints. I laugh to think of coach Cable drooling over the opportunity to coach the better Harrington.
I guess when all is said and done I would just say this: watch out JaMarcus Russell. You may have been a No. 1 draft pick, but if history repeats itself I see a lot of Andrew Walter and Marques Tuiasosopo in your future.
Good luck to you, Raider fans. If Cable leaves your once magnificent program in as much disarray as he did ours, you have a long road ahead before anything is worth cheering about.
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