ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE LONGTIME COACH of the Bruins resigns to take an analyst's job with CBS.
Saying the timing was right and he couldn't pass up a great opportunity, Terry Donahue resigned as UCLA's football coach Monday to take a television job.
Donahue leaves Westwood as the all-time leader in victories at UCLA and in games against Pacific-10 Conference opponents.
``A dream of mine is coming to an end,'' Donahue said at a news conference on campus attended by his wife and three daughters. ``It's a very emotional decision for me, but one I felt had to be made.
``It's been a wild and wonderful ride. It's been more than one person should ever get in a lifetime. This is really not based on anything like burnout, being fatigued, not enjoying the job.
``This has nothing to do with that. This has to do with an opportunity that came. Opportunity comes when it comes.''
Donahue, 51, will work as a football analyst for CBS Sports. His first game will be the John Hancock Bowl on Dec.29, and he also will work the Fiesta Bowl between No.1 Nebraska and No. 2 Florida on Jan.2. College football returns to CBS on a weekly basis next season.
UCLA will play one final game under Donahue, in the Aloha Bowl against No.11 Kansas in Honolulu on Christmas Day.
Donahue has been the Bruins' head coach for 20 years and only three other current coaches have put in more years at one university than Donahue - Penn State's Joe Paterno (30), Brigham Young's LaVell Edwards (24) and Nebraska's Tom Osborne (23).
UCLA's athletic director, Peter Dalis, said he hoped to have a new coach in place by Jan.1. He said he had some people in mind, but wouldn't divulge their identities.
Among names being mentioned are Northwestern coach Gary Barnett, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, St.Louis Rams coach Rich Brooks and Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel, a former UCLA quarterback and assistant coach.
Sources have said Neuheisel, completing his first year at Colorado, wouldn't leave that school so soon after being hired.
``There's always been a good football coach at UCLA,'' said Donahue, adding he had been considering the move for several weeks but didn't make his final decision until Sunday night. ``I'm totally confident UCLA will get a great coach. The program will keep rolling. That's the way it should be.''
Donahue didn't close the door to coaching in the future, but said his focus after the Aloha Bowl would be on broadcasting.
``I have some apprehensions,'' he said. ``I'm going into a new arena. There are certain things I'm leaving behind I'll never have again and I know that.
``I think there's always an element of newness and excitement and adventure when you go into something [new]. I don't know what my reaction to broadcasting will be until I do it. I feel confident I can make this thing happen and that it will be the best thing for my family.''
Donahue, who played at UCLA as a walk-on tackle in 1965-66, was an assistant for five years before succeeding Dick Vermeil following the 1975 season.
His record at UCLA is 151-73-8. The second-leading winner among UCLA coaches is William Spaulding, whose teams were 72-51-8 from 1925-38.
Donahue barely was 32 in his first game as head coach, a 28-10 upset victory over third-ranked Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. Donahue remembered that game Monday as one of his career highlights.
The Bruins upset Rose Bowl-bound Southern Cal 24-20 in November in Donahue's final regular-season game as their coach. The victory was the fifth in a row for UCLA over its cross-town rival and Donahue's 98th Pac-10 victory, breaking the record of 97 set by former Washington coach Don James.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Terry Donahue posted a 151-73-8 record in 20 yearsby CNBas UCLA's head coach. color.