It’s Really Aloha for the Coaches : College football: Donahue and Mason hope to leave Hawaii on a winning note.

How fitting that UCLA and Kansas will finish their seasons today in the Aloha Bowl.

Because it’s aloha, or fond farewell, to UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, who’ll be retiring after today, leaving the job he has held for 20 years to become an analyst for CBS on college-football telecasts.

And it’s aloha to Kansas Coach Glen Mason, who’ll be quitting after today, leaving the job he has held for eight years to become coach at Georgia.

So it’s a day for tear-jerking pregame speeches and postgame Gatorade showers.

But both men have tried to downplay their role in the game.

“I’m not going to ask the team to win the game for me,” Donahue said. “I’m not going to do that. I want the team to win the game for them.”

Mason took umbrage at the suggestion that he needs to go out a winner.

“I am a winner,” he said. “You’re either a winner or you’re not a winner. One game doesn’t make a difference.”

Don’t believe a word of it. Only one man will come off the field for the final time on the shoulders of his players, a broad smile on his face. Every coach would want that at such a momentous moment in his career. But only one will get it today. A losing coach would look awful silly being carried off the field by his players.

Mason has been criticized for the timing of his move. Last Sunday, he conducted practice as usual for the Jayhawks in preparation for this game. Twenty-four hours later, the team was again practicing. But its head coach was in Georgia accepting his new position.

A morale-killing sequence of events for a squad preparing for a postseason game? A victory today would bolster Mason’s contention that he has done nothing to hurt his team.

As for the Bruins, they have their own point to prove. Much has been made of the fact that this group of seniors never lost to USC. And that will always be a sweet mark of distinction for them.

But this group of seniors has also never won a bowl game and that would be a bitter tag to carry the rest of their lives. In the last four years, UCLA has made only one bowl appearance, losing to Wisconsin, 21-16, in the 1994 Rose Bowl.

“It would be a nice to win one for [Donahue] and for us,” said Grady Stretz, a senior defensive tackle for the Bruins. “That would be a nice way for us to leave.”

The oddsmaker seem to think it will happen. Although Kansas is ranked 11th in the nation, finished in a tie for second in the Big Eight Conference behind Nebraska with a 9-2 record, the Jayhawks are underdogs to the Bruins, who were 7-4, unranked and tied for fifth in the Pac 10 Conference.

Donahue, who seems to revel in the underdog role, said he was “shocked” at being made the favorite.

All these intangibles--Donahue’s retirement versus Mason’s resignation, favorite versus underdog--don’t translate into points.

The key to today’s game figures to be the respective running games. And in that department, UCLA is questionable.

The questions are:

--Can tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who sat out all but one play of the last two games because of a severe ankle sprain, regain the form that enabled him to gain more than 200 yards in each of three games prior to his injury?

--Will left tackle Jonathan Ogden, the anchor of the offensive line, be able to shake off the effects of a sinus infection?

--If Abdul-Jabbar cannot go at full speed, will the Bruins be able to keep moving with the troika of running backs--James Milliner, Derek Ayers and Akil Davis--that confused and eventually beat the Trojans in UCLA’s regular-season finale?

The Jayhawks have two good options of their own when they elect to run the ball. They finished third in the Big Eight with an average of 206.9 yards per game on the ground. Mason can call on power fullback L.T. Levine, who was sixth in the conference with 811 yards rushing, or agile tailback June Henley, ninth in the conference with 766 yards. Each of them scored eight rushing touchdowns.

“The thing you worry about in this game is that Kansas can keep the ball away from you with those backs,” Donahue said. “We have to try to avoid those 12- to 15-play drives with the backs pounding away at you.”

What the Bruins have felt pounding away at them all week is the surf of Waikiki Beach. The team has spent its mornings in practice, but its afternoons and evenings enjoying Honolulu.

While that might leave questions about players’ focus heading into today’s game, Stretz says it’s just the opposite, that the moped-riding, snorkeling, sightseeing and boat riding have bonded the players.

One afternoon, most of the linemen took on the waves together.

“It was quite a sight to see,” Stretz said, “a bunch of big, fat guys up on surfboards.”

The sight Donahue wants to see today is those “big, fat guys” sailing up and down the field, riding the wave of euphoria they have felt this week to one final victory for their coach.

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Terry Donahue’s Bowl Record

YEAR: 1976

BOWL: Liberty

RESULT: lost to Alabama, 36-6

INSTANT REPLAY: UCLA’s first bowl game other than Rose

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YEAR: 1978

BOWL: Fiesta

RESULT: tied Arkansas, 10-10

INSTANT REPLAY: James Owens: 17 rushes for 121 yards

*

YEAR: 1981

BOWL: Bluebonnet

RESULT: lost to Michigan, 33-14

INSTANT REPLAY: Bruins held to 33 yards rushing

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YEAR: 1982

BOWL: Rose

RESULT: beat Michigan, 24-14

INSTANT REPLAY: QB Tom Ramsay named MVP

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YEAR: 1983

BOWL: Rose

RESULT: beat Illinois, 45-9

INSTANT REPLAY: QB Rick Neuheisel: 4 TDs and 298 yards

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YEAR: 1984

BOWL: Fiesta

RESULT: beat Miami, 39-37

INSTANT REPLAY: Gaston Green 144 yards rushing in 1st start

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YEAR: 1985

BOWL: Rose

RESULT: beat Iowa, 45-28

INSTANT REPLAY: Eric Ball 4 TDs and 227 yards

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YEAR: 1986

BOWL: Freedom

RESULT: beat Brigham Young, 31-10

INSTANT REPLAY: Green: 4 TDs and 266 yards rushing

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YEAR: 1987

BOWL: Aloha

RESULT: beat Florida, 20-16

INSTANT REPLAY: Troy Aikman leads balanced victory

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YEAR: 1988

BOWL: Cotton

RESULT: beat Arkansas, 17-3

INSTANT REPLAY: Freshman Shawn Wills rushes for 120 yards

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YEAR: 1991

BOWL: Hancock

RESULT: beat Illinois, 6-3

INSTANT REPLAY: Arnold Ale has INT; Louis Perez kicks 2 FGs

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YEAR: 1993

BOWL: Rose

RESULT: lost to Wisconsin, 21-16

INSTANT REPLAY: J.J. Stokes: 14 catches for 176 yards

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YEAR: 1995

BOWL: Aloha

RESULT: vs. Kansas

INSTANT REPLAY: Donahue’s final game

TOTALS: 13 BOWLS

* 8-3-1 (5-1 in Rose Bowl)

* Eight consecutive bowl wins between ‘82-’91

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The Bowl Picture

The postseason viewing viewing guide for college football:

BOWL GAME: Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Dec. 14

OPPONENTS: Toledo 40, Nevada 37 (OT)

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BOWL GAME: Aloha, Honolulu, today, 12:30 p.m. (ABC)

OPPONENTS: Kansas (9-2) vs. UCLA (7-4)

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BOWL GAME: Copper, Tucson, Wednesday, 6 p.m. (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: Air Force (8-4) vs. Texas Tech (8-3)

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BOWL GAME: Alamo, San Antonio, Thursday, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: Michigan (9-3) vs. Texas A&M; (8-2)

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BOWL GAME: Sun, El Paso, Friday, 11:30 a.m. (CBS)

OPPONENTS: Washington (7-3-1) vs. Iowa (7-4)

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BOWL GAME: Independence, Shreveport, LA, Friday, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: LSU (6-4-1) vs. Michigan State (6-4-1)

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BOWL GAME: Holiday, San Diego, Friday, 6 p.m., (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: Colorado State (8-3) vs. Kansas State (9-2)

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BOWL GAME: Liberty, Memphis, Tenn., Saturday, 9 a.m. (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: East Carolina (8-3) vs. Stanford (7-3-1)

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BOWL GAME: Carquest, Miami, Saturday, 4:30 p.m., (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: North Carolina (6-5) vs. Arkansas (8-4)

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BOWL GAME: Peach, Atlanta, Saturday, 5 p.m., (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: Virgina (8-4) vs. Georgia (6-5)

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BOWL GAME: Sugar, New Orleans, Sunday 4:30 p.m. (ABC)

OPPONENTS: Texas (10-1-1) vs. Virginia Tech (9-2)

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BOWL GAME: Outback, Tampa, Fla., Jan. 1, 8 a.m. (ESPN)

OPPONENTS: Penn State (8-3) vs. Auburn (8-3)

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BOWL GAME: Gator, Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 1, 9:30 a.m. (NBC)

OPPONENTS: Syracuse (8-3) vs. Clemson (8-3)

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BOWL GAME: Citrus, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 1, 10 a.m. (ABC)

OPPONENTS: Tennessee (10-1) vs. Ohio State (11-1)

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BOWL GAME: Cotton, Dallas, Jan. 1, 10:30 a.m. (CBS)

OPPONENTS: Colorado (9-2) vs. Oregon (9-2)

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BOWL GAME: Rose, Pasadena, Jan. 1, 2 p.m. (ABC)

OPPONENTS: Northwestern (10-1) vs. USC (8-2-1)

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BOWL GAME: Orange, Miami, Jan. 1, 5 p.m. (CBS)

OPPONENTS: Florida State (9-2) vs. Notre Dame (9-2)

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BOWL GAME: Fiesta, Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 2, 5:30 p.m. (CBS)

OPPONENTS: Nebraska (11-0) vs. Florida (12-0)