END OF AN ERA: DONAHUE RESIGNS : Talking Heads Were Talking Last Summer : TV: Donahue’s representatives approached CBS before the season to determine interest.

Discussions between Terry Donahue and CBS began last summer, but not in earnest until recent weeks, Rick Gentile, the network’s executive producer for sports, said Monday.

Gentile said representatives of Donahue, among them New York sports-broadcast agent Bob Rosen, asked the network if it would be interested in Donahue as a football commentator.

“We said, of course we’d be interested,” Gentile said. “But back then it was just speculative. The question was, ‘If Donahue were to leave UCLA, would you be interested?’ ”

Gentile said he met with Donahue recently in New York and was impressed.

“Obviously, we think he’s going to be outstanding or we wouldn’t have hired him,” Gentile said. “We’re thrilled to have someone of Terry Donahue’s stature on our broadcast team.”

Dick Vermeil, who knows something about making the transition from coaching to broadcasting, agrees.

“Terry is going to do just fine,” Vermeil said Monday from his home in Coatsville, Pa. “There’s no question about his knowledge, that’s not even an issue.

“The important thing is, will Terry enjoy broadcasting? I think he will.”

Donahue was an assistant under Vermeil for two seasons at UCLA before succeeding him as the coach in 1976, when Vermeil left to coach the Philadelphia Eagles. Vermeil later turned to broadcasting, working first for CBS and now for ABC.

Donahue has worked only one game as a commentator, a Holiday Bowl telecast several years ago. Raycom, a production company that handled that telecast, asked Donahue to fill in when Lou Holtz had to bow out.

“Yes, we’ve heard about that, but, no, we didn’t look at a tape,” Gentile said. “Even if we had, we wouldn’t have wanted to have made a judgment off something he did a number of years ago.”

But isn’t CBS concerned about putting someone with so little experience on so high-profile a game as the Fiesta Bowl, which has No. 1 Nebraska playing No. 2 Florida?

“Sure it’s a concern,” Gentile said. “And it is something we looked long and hard at.

“We looked at our options. We could have not used Terry on any Bowl games and started him off with the regular season next year.

“Or we could have just used him on the Sun Bowl.

“But the decision was made that since he will be our No. 1 man on college football, and that since the Fiesta Bowl is the most important game we may have in years, he should work that game.

“We also thought about making him part of a three-man team, but decided against that.

“We’re comfortable with our decision.”

So on Dec. 29, four days after UCLA plays in the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu on Christmas Day, Donahue will be in El Paso working the Sun Bowl for CBS.

“That may be the fastest transition period for anyone going from coaching to broadcasting,” Gentile said.

It will be Donahue and play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz on the Sun Bowl, and then the two will work the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2.

“We will give him all the help and guidance we can,” Gentile said. “We think he’s going to be terrific.”

Vermeil, who has remained close to Donahue, thinks so, too.

“Terry wants to do very well, and I’ve told him the one thing you can control is your own preparation,” he said.

“You can’t control the play-by-play announcer, you can’t control the producer, you can’t control how the game goes. But you can control your preparation. The key is to be prepared without sounding over-prepared.

”. . . There are people in this business who sound real good but never say anything. People who really know football know they’re not saying anything. But most people don’t.

“I think Terry can sound good and have something to say too.

“With these first two assignments, the key thing for Terry to do is approach them as if he and Jim Nantz were just sitting on a living-room couch and talking about the game.

“He should try and forget that they are millions of people out there watching.”

Easier said than done.

“I know Terry is real concerned about how he is perceived as a broadcaster right away,” Vermeil said. “But he shouldn’t be too concerned.

“In two years, he’ll probably look back and get a chuckle.”