You’ve probably seen the ESPN report stating that Tom Cable will be the Raiders’ head coach in 2009. Team spokesman John Herrera denied that owner Al Davis has reached a decision, but with each passing day of inactivity, Cable appears closer to the job.

It’s a strange scenario. Davis has spoken with several other coaches ” whether for the head position or otherwise ” since the Raiders’ season ended Dec. 28. One of them was Cable, who guided the team to back-to-back wins to end the season. But Davis has yet to make Cable an official offer. In fact, the former offensive line coach is technically not under contract at the moment.

He is free to walk away. He probably won’t, because most people close to the situation figure he will be the man in ‘09, and it is a job Cable clearly covets.

The situation is starting to look a lot like 2002, when Bill Callahan sort of drifted into the head-coaching vacancy created by the “trade” of Jon Gruden to Tampa Bay. Davis did eventually take the trouble to formally introduce Callahan as his coach on March 13. But it took him three weeks to do it, though the offseason was moving into full swing. In fact, Davis signed a pair of free agents ” linebacker Bill Romanowski and defensive tackle John Parrella ” during the coaching vacuum.

It shouldn’t take Davis until mid-March to name a head coach this time around. But it is taking an awfully long time. The Raiders will point out that the owner is under no obligation to move swiftly, and claim that the timetable doesn’t matter in the long run.

I’m not so sure.

When the 49ers took Mike Singletary from interim coach to bona fide coach, they did so immediately, and made a big deal out of it. Singletary may or may not turn out to be a good coach, but at least the Niners had the appearance of being excited about their coach. And that could help get others excited.

The Raiders couldn’t hire Cable right away, because it would have violated the Rooney Rule. But they satisfied the terms of that rule 2 1/2 weeks ago. Maybe Davis has known all along that Cable was his guy. To those of us on the outside, it looks like he has worked overtime to find a better alternative, without success.

You have to wonder Cable’s ability to attract top-flight assistant coaches and free agents is diminished when his own organization can’t even get excited about him.

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P.S. Dwaine Board was officially named defensive line coach, and it looks like Paul Hackett will be the new quarterbacks coach. That means Keith Millard and John DeFilippo will not be returning.