No Matter the Job, Donahue Never Far From Sidelines

That guy will look sort of familiar, all right, the one with the Dick Clark haircut and the perpetual tan, standing there at midfield of the Rose Bowl for the coin flip before today’s USC-UCLA game.

It’s a safe bet at Westwood that they haven’t forgotten Terry Donahue. And five years after coaching his last game at UCLA, Donahue hasn’t forgotten the Bruins, either.

“When that coin’s in the air, I’m going to have to stop myself from yelling ‘Bruins’ ball!’ ” Donahue said.

In 20 years at UCLA, it was Bruins’ ball often enough that Donahue won more games than any other coach in Pacific 10 Conference history. Even if the outcome of today’s game doesn’t mean a thing in the conference race, some of the predictable fallout remains.

If USC loses, the coach will be blamed. If UCLA loses, the defense will be blamed.

And no matter what happens, Donahue won’t be blamed for anything, which might be the best part about not coaching.

Meantime, the best part about today’s game for Donahue might be the brief ceremony before the start of the second quarter when the Bruins recognize his election into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Remember, Donahue walked away from UCLA under his own power at the end of the 1995 season, a coaching departure that runs completely contrary to the usual procedures, such as showing up for work one day and finding out that they have cut your picture out of the game programs.

Donahue, 56, doesn’t have to worry about any of that stuff, at least not now. His employment progression after UCLA has not lent itself to angry alumni, upset parents or critical media. He spent three years at CBS doing commentary on college games, then left that for a football job on an entirely different level.

These days, Donahue is the handpicked successor of Bill Walsh as general manager of the San Francisco 49ers. This means that Donahue is a heartbeat away from running the 49er football operations.

Donahue joined the team last year and is being groomed to replace Walsh, whose contract expires after next season. However, Walsh, 68, might pass the reins to Donahue early and serve only as a a consultant. Whatever, Donahue said it’s not his timetable that matters.

“Bill Walsh has earned the right to decide whatever suits him,” he said. “Everyone knows what he has meant to his organization.”

Meantime, Donahue has been busy learning. At Walsh’s urging, he completely reworked the grading system for college prospects to make it more complete and bring it into line with what many other NFL teams are doing.

Donahue works closely with John McVay, the director of football operations and the 49ers’ chief contract negotiator. That’s destined to be an even larger part of Donahue’s responsibilities, an area he will tackle along with Dominic Corsell, the 49ers’ salary cap coordinator.

Well liked by John York, who runs the 49ers’ day-to-day operations, and by new team President Peter Harris, Donahue seems to be on the fast track to a high-profile career in the front office of a powerful NFL franchise.

He would never walk that sideline again and coach, would he?

Perhaps surprisingly, Donahue won’t rule that out. Neither do any of his closest friends and advisors, including Dick Vermeil and Pepper Rodgers, who both had Donahue on their staffs at UCLA.

“I think Terry can do whatever he wants in the NFL, whether it’s general manager, president or head coach,” Vermeil said. “There are very few people who I’ve ever been around who are as multitalented as he is. He doesn’t have any limitations.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if someone offered him a head coaching job. It would be very smart for a team to evaluate if Terry Donahue is the man. If I were an owner, I would.

“Terry’s future is in his hands.”

But as he sat behind his desk at the 49er offices this week in Santa Clara, all Donahue had in his hands was a stack of videotapes of college prospects. Rodgers said Donahue is relentless in his work ethic. A sign on the wall of his office carried this message: “The personnel department is in the business of being right.”

“This is a nice situation,” he said. “But I haven’t been in a bad situation yet.”

He followed Vermeil as UCLA’s head coach in 1976 and 20 years later turned in his sideline pass with a 151-74-8 record, five Pac-10 titles and four Rose Bowl games. His teams produced 34 first-team All-Americans. He had 14 players selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

But he walked away in 1995, then walked up to the broadcast booth, where he spent three years as Jim Nantz’s partner on CBS. One of the first games he worked was UCLA and Tennessee. Donahue said he never really got over how odd he felt in the booth.

“It was kind of like an out-of-body experience, with everything going on and you’re not involved with it anymore,” he said.

His adjustment from coaching to civilian life was not always easy. He knew he had missed a lot.

“When I first got out of coaching, I was like a guy who was just released from prison,” he said.

But after three years in the television booth, he accepted an offer from the 49ers. It was from Walsh, a Donahue supporter for years. With guidance from Vermeil, Walsh and longtime friend and advisor Angelo Mazzone, Donahue went for it.

He could have been in the NFL years before, as a head coach, but he turned down a series of offers--from Dallas, Atlanta and the Rams.

Mazzone, a key UCLA supporter who moves in powerful circles and worked with agent Marvin Demoff on Vermeil’s deal with the Rams, said he would not be shocked to see Donahue coaching again, but only if the deal is perfect.

“Coaching is in his blood,” Mazzone said.

Rodgers made 22-year-old Donahue the youngest assistant coach in college football at Kansas in 1967 and later brought him to UCLA on the same staff with Vermeil in 1971. He has seen enough of Donahue to convince him that Donahue could handle any football job.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who works any harder or is more proficient about what he does,” Rodgers said. “As smart as he is, he’ll adjust easily to any task.

“Now, Bill Walsh is obviously a legend in the world of pro football. If you were going to have somebody who is a big supporter of yours, who could you have [as] a better guy than Bill Walsh? That would be the ultimate and that’s what Terry has.

“He’s got it all.”

Donahue has a lot going for him even as he waits for his time to come with the 49ers. He said he knows he’ll get his chance, somewhere, soon, probably in the Bay Area after Walsh decides to walk away.

When Donahue joined the 49ers, one of the first things he did was to tell Coach Steve Mariucci he had no interest in his job. In fact, they had several conversations about it, apparently because Mariucci needed convincing.

The coach and the assistant general manager get along quite well, which Donahue expected all along.

Donahue is also adjusting well. He and wife Andrea have an apartment a couple of minutes away from the 49ers’ offices in Santa Clara, but they kept their beach house in Newport Beach and go there when they can.

There is much to do on the new job in the NFL, even if it’s two years old and not at all like the college game. That still takes some getting used to, Donahue said.

“Here, if a player isn’t good enough, you cut him,” Donahue said. “Can’t do that in college. If a kid can’t play, he’s sad, the parents are sad, you’re sad, everybody’s mad. And you never have to worry about academics or wondering about some NCAA rule.

“But at the same time, there’s nothing in the world like college football. The spirit, the fanfare, the rivalries, you can’t put a value on that. It shapes your life.

“I’ve liked all three of my jobs. UCLA was obviously a labor of love, but now I’m at a different stage of my life.”

It’s a stage where the actor doesn’t yet know what role he is going to play. Right now, he is following a script written for him as the protege of the leading man.

It’s all laid out for Donahue, isn’t it? He is supposed to be right there in the 49ers’ private offices and the club-level private boxes at 3Com Park . . . but there is a chance he might wind up walking the sideline again--somewhere.

Even Donahue isn’t sure.

“I’m very happy where I am and I know I’m lucky,” he said. “But once coaching gets in your blood . . . all I know is that my time is coming. I know I can be a general manager, maybe soon. Other than that, well, we’ll see.”