HE SAT BEFORE us last September conceding his Football operation would benefit from another authoritative voice, suggesting he would add one and that already he had identified the individual.

It was a concession startling in its candor, Al Almighty Davis admitting he needed help. The old wolf, it seemed, had learned a new trick.

Four months later, after concluding a sixth consecutive season of at least 11 losses, Davis is wavering on what then seemed a commitment to rediscover excellence.

"I'm just not ready," Davis said Wednesday, after introducing head coach Tom Cable and announcing the hiring of several assistant coaches but committing to no other changes or additions.

So the new executive, who theoretically could alter the dynamic of what has become a disastrous front office, who theoretically would give fans a new reason to have faith, may not be coming after all.

"I haven't made up my mind exactly what I'm going to do,'' Davis said later.

Ahem. Might Al's backpedal, this pirouette from his own self-analysis, provide a glimpse into the whims of the most mercurial professional sports franchise in America?

It has to be downright discouraging for those who wanted to think Al was ready to share high-level authority in hopes of forming a brain trust capable of leading the Raiders out of the NFL wilderness.

It means the Raider Nation likely will be fed another bowl of what it has been served for years. It may not be what's needed or wanted, but it's what Al decides to give.

Right now, that's Cable as head coach and offensive overlord, with Football lifers John Marshall (defensive coordinator), Paul Hackett (quarterbacks coach) and Ted Tollner (passing game coordinator) the most accomplished of the assistants.

That's it. No hot new coach eager to seize this wayward bunch, dragging it by its collective ankles and pulling it back to respectability and no sharp new executive to alternately invigorate and assuage Al, manage the coaching staff and, above all, provide meaningful input on personnel decisions.

Cable deserves better than what he is being given. Moreover, he deserves the best possible chance to prove somebody can succeed in Oakland.

Cable is no great innovator. And he will have his clumsy moments, as we saw last season when he called that infamous fake field goal, relying on the weakest element of Sebastian Janikowski's game: his ability to make tacklers miss.

But Tom is a solid Football man and a player's coach. His biggest challenge may be maintaining integrity with the players, keeping his identity as an authority figure.

The Raiders' eighth head coach since they returned to Oakland in 1995 and their fourth in five years Cable will attempt to finish what he started during his 12-game trial as interim coach last season. He'll try to coach his way through organizational obstacles that have demoralized and suffocated and ultimately run off his predecessors.

He, too, will fail.

And it won't necessarily be his fault.

Never mind that Cable will come to work each day attempting to exercise authority over a room of recycled assistants. Never mind the stubborn rumors about a piece of the team being available for sale. Never mind the persistent questions about JaMarcus Russell's commitment, or the ability of high draft picks like Robert Gallery and Michael Huff. Never mind Al's insistence on following his uniquely peculiar approach to running the draft, as well as his recruiting and signing free agents.

The problem for Cable and everybody else is that it's still the same organization.

So when he's talking, as he did Wednesday, about winning Football games and going to the playoffs and having the Raiders stand next to the New York Yankees and Boston Celtics as the elite franchises in professional sport, Cable is observing reality through a cracked Silver-and-Black lens.

Coaches can say anything they want, and many stretch the bounds of credibility. But coaches do not win championships. Not in today's NFL. There are no exceptions, including New England's wizardly Bill Belichick.

Championships are won by organizations. Ask Mike Tomlin and the Steelers. Ask Tom Coughlin and the Giants. Heck, ask Belichick and the Patriots.

The Raiders, by promoting Cable and making comprehensive changes among assistants, have not addressed their biggest issue. They've simply changed their appearance. They've put a different suit on a seriously ill man.

He might look a little healthier, but what he really needs is a cure.

Contact Monte Poole at mpoole@bayareanewsgroup.com