Will Tom Cable get a second chance as an NFL head coach?

The writing started years and years ago on yellow legal pads, where Tom Cable scribbled down his thoughts on philosophy and football.

It picked up when Cable got to UCLA as an assistant coach in the mid-2000s and all came together when he joined Pete Carroll’s staff with the Seattle Seahawks six years ago, weeks after Cable’s turbulent stint as head coach of the Oakland Raiders ended.

Cable intends to be ready for his second chance, if and when some team is willing to dig beyond headlines and serious accusations to focus on the man and coach he says is beneath. And those notes form the foundation of the program Cable intends to build — one that intertwines the game and life in much the same way Carroll has built the Seahawks into a perennial contender.

"How to make a group realize how much they need each other, how to love each other, tell them the truth, treat them like men, don’t try to play parent to all of them and make them feel like, 'Gosh, here’s Dad talking again,' " Cable told USA TODAY Sports recently.

"If you’re going to build a culture, you can’t talk about all the things that’s been screwed up. If you’re going to build a culture, you can’t pretend that what you say is going to work just because you said it. You’ve got to live it every day, and you’ve got to be the example for it."

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If those sound like clichés, understand how Cable’s message resonates with players such as mercurial former Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch, who was famously media-shy as a player but returned a phone call to say "you have to be somebody special" to do what Cable does in Seattle.

Seahawks brass entrusts Cable, 52, with molding an increasingly inexperienced offensive line that currently features a rookie ex-college basketball player (George Fant) at left tackle. Breno Giacomini, who came to Seattle as a practice squad tackle and left for the New York Jets as a Super Bowl champion with an $18 million contract, calls Cable the best teacher he’s ever had.

"He connects with — I ain’t even going to say player to coach, but I’m going to say a person — it’s more of that aspect rather than just football player-coach relationship," Lynch said. "He takes the time to try to figure that out."

Cable is also Carroll’s assistant head coach and go-to guy. Hall of Famers Bill Parcells and Ron Wolf, who was consulting for the Jets when they interviewed Cable two years ago, back him behind the scenes. As one NFL executive put it, Cable has a lot of people in his corner, making him the candidate some are surprised to hear the most about entering the upcoming coaching carousel — in part because of what everyone heard about Cable by the end in Oakland.

During training camp in 2009, a Raiders assistant coach alleged Cable broke his jaw. Months later, Cable’s first wife and an ex-girlfriend alleged Cable hit them. Late Raiders owner Al Davis stood by Cable, only to fire him after an 8-8 finish in 2010 — their best in eight years, including a 6-0 mark against the AFC West — and eviscerate him to the media afterward.

Cable has long acknowledged slapping his first wife after catching her cheating on him almost 30 years ago and "absolutely" denies all accusations of violence since. He was never arrested or charged in any of the alleged incidents, and the NFL didn’t discipline him. But those types of allegations rightly give NFL owners pause in the post-Ray Rice/Josh Brown age. So, if a team doesn’t bring it up in an interview, Cable says, he will.

"Because I don’t have anything to hide, and I think when you’re a leader of men, you’ve got to put your cards on the table," Cable said. "The other stuff has to be faced and looked in the eye, but the truth of it is this is about taking an organization where it wants to go, to something better than it is today."

Every year, teams try to tap into what’s working, with varying degrees of success. (See: Former Seahawks assistants Gus Bradley, who just got fired after four losing seasons in Jacksonville, and Dan Quinn, who has the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs in Year 2.) That’s one reason Cable, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and defensive coordinator Kris Richard all could end up with interviews in the next few weeks.

"A lot of people put a bad rap on (Cable), because of his situation," Lynch said. "I just know the guys he would like around him, the kind of character that they would possess. Honestly, I think he’d do pretty good."

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A father of four adult children and married to third wife Carol for seven years, Cable has a lot more to explain than most head-coaching candidates about his past.

Perhaps that’s why, as he compiled all those notes, he realized a core part of his philosophy is focusing on the present.

"If you can help someone find their best," Cable said, "if you take people where they want to go but don’t know how to, if you can teach young men to deal with their fear, and if you can teach them to do it 'now' — now means 'No Other Way,' live right now, don’t live yesterday, don’t live tomorrow, be in the moment right now — when you can capture that, amazing things happen."

*****

Second chances: Other coaches whose names figure to come up as they seek a second NFL head coaching job:

Patriots OC Josh McDaniels: Could be the most sought-after candidate in this cycle, period. McDaniels, 40, has grown up since going 11-17 over two seasons (2009-10) with Denver.

Buccaneers DC Mike Smith: Tampa Bay’s resurgence has helped his cause. Smith, 57, was 66-46 with four playoff appearances in Atlanta from 2008-14, but just 10-22 in his last two seasons.

Steelers OC Todd Haley: A talented Pittsburgh offense is rolling. Haley, 49, was 19-26 with one playoff bid from 2009 -11 in Kansas City and must overcome perception of how it ended.

Eagles DC Jim Schwartz: Remains a respected defensive mind. But Schwartz, 50, must overcome a rough record — 29-51 with one playoff appearance in five seasons in Detroit.

Cowboys OC Scott Linehan: A rookie-driven offense in Dallas is rolling. That could get Linehan, 53, his first real look since the St. Louis Rams fired him with an 11-25 record in 2008.

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.