Al Davis was scheduled to introduce Hue Jackson as the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday.
Instead, the embattled 81-year-old owner spent the majority of his 100 minute news conference narrating the happenings of the Tom Cable era and explaining why he had fired the former head coach.
Cable, of course, controversially retained his job for the 2010 season despite allegations of spousal abuse and that he had broke assistant coach Randy Hanson's jaw.
"When we had the Randy Hanson incident, we had a turmoil in our coaching staff. Randy's jaw was broken. To this day nobody is sure how it was broken," Davis told the media. "Can't get the story — it's like [Guantanamo Bay Naval Base], trying to find out, 'did they waterboard those guys or not?'"
"No, really, it's hard to believe," he reiterated. "How many guys went in? Four guys went into the room with a guy, the guys comes out with a broken jaw and no one saw it."
The allegations and lawsuit brought by former girlfriend Marie Lutz was even more problematic for Davis.
"That lawsuit created a tremendous amount of work, stress and turmoil," Davis said. "Tom had been told earlier in his career that he could have been fired without pay for the wrath he brought on the Raider organization.
"Now, one of the things revealed by Ms. Lutz was too much for me," he added. "And that was whether, I don't know if it's true, we're going to find out but Tom was asked about it and refused to answer it."
Davis also claimed that Cable created unnecessary distractions, especially on road trips.
"He brought her on trips on the road when the team's playing on the road," he explained. "He's the head coach and this is the guy who's talking about focus. We've got a job to do, we've got a game to play, we've got to win — and they're flying in friends so they can be with them the night before the game.
"All of this stuff goes a long way against my wishes, against my way of living, against my life and against the Raider way and I just wasn't going to take it anymore," Davis added.
Davis accordingly withheld $120,000 worth of salary from Cable for "strain on the organization," an act that Cable has filed a grievance over.
Cable, though, should beware, as Davis recently won a dispute against another former Raiders head coach, Lane Kiffin.
Davis, of course, took the opportunity to send barbs his way as well.
"I beat him because he lied. He’s a liar," Davis said of Kiffin.
See a portion of Davis' tirade below.
