Former UCLA coach Donahue dead after battle with cancer

LOS ANGELES — Terry Donahue, who had the most victories as a coach in the Pac-12 Conference and in UCLA football history, died Sunday. He was 77.

The school said he died at his home in Newport Beach after a twoyear struggle with cancer.

Donahue has the most wins (98) of any coach in Pac-12 history and also the most wins (151) in UCLA history. He coached the Bruins from 1971-75, working as an assistant under Pepper Rodgers and then Dick Vermeil, before taking over at age 31 and serving from 1976 to 1995. His first job out of college was as an assistant to Rodgers at Kansas for one season.

Donahue was the first to appear in a Rose Bowl game as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

The Bruins won the New Year’s Day game in 1983, ’84 and ’86 during his coaching tenure. He was the first college coach to earn bowl game victories in seven consecutive seasons, from 1983 to 1989.

Born in Los Angeles, Terrence Michael Donahue joined the football team as a walk-on defensive lineman in 1965. He helped lead the Bruins to their first Rose Bowl win in 1966, an upset of previously undefeated and top-ranked Michigan State.

He had a 151-74-8 coaching record at UCLA and a 98-51-5 mark in Pac-12 play. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

“He epitomizes everything you strive to be as a coach and as a human being,” current UCLA coach Chip Kelly said. “Since the moment I stepped on campus, he’s been an incredible mentor and one of the most authentic, humble and toughest men I’ve ever met.”

He was the San Francisco 49ers’ director of player personnel in 19992000 and the team’s general manager from 2001-05.