Terry Donahue, winner of UCLA and Pac-12 football coach, died at the age of 77

LOS ANGELES – Terry Donahue, the best coach in Pac-12 conference and UCLA football history who later served as the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers general manager, died on Sunday. He was 77 years old.

According to the school, he died at home in Newport Beach, California after two years of fighting cancer.

Donahue has the most wins (98) of coaches in Pac-12 history and the most wins (151) in UCLA history. He coached Bruins from 1971 to 1975, worked as an assistant under Pepper Rodgers and then Dick Vermeil before starting as head coach at the age of 31 and serving from 1976 to 1995. Kansas for one season.

Donahue was the first to appear in the Rose Bowl as a player, assistant coach and head coach. The Bruins won the New Year’s Day game in 1983, 1984 and 1986 during his coaching term. He was the first university coach to earn corner game wins for seven consecutive seasons, from 1983-1989.

Los Angeles-born Terrence Michael Donahue graduated from Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, California before moving to UCLA. He joined the football team as a hiking defender in 1965. He helped lead the Bruins to their first ever Rose Bowl victory in 1966 in the shocked, previously undefeated and top-ranked state of Michigan.

He had a 151-74-8 coaching record at UCLA and a 98-51-5 mark in Pac-12. The Bruins won or shared five league titles during the Donahue season. He coached upcoming Hall of Famers events such as playing field player Troy Aikman, security hero Kenny Easley and offensive battle Jonathan Ogden.

Donahue was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. He joined the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Rose Bowl press box was named for him in 2013.

“He embodies everything you try to be as a coach and as a person,” UCLA current football coach Chip Kelly said. “Ever since I stepped on campus, he has been an incredible mentor and one of the oldest, humblest and toughest men I have ever met. He loved UCLA with everything he had, and I can’t express how important his guidance and friendship has been to me. . “

After retiring from coaching, Donahue worked in CBS, Fox and NFL network call games.

He served as 49ers ’Director of Player Human Resources in 1999 and 2000 and as Team Team Director from 2001-2005. He turned down the opportunity to coach the Dallas Cowboys, which would have met him with Aikman in 1998.

Andrea, his wife, is 52 years old; daughters Nicole, Michele and Jennifer; and 10 grandchildren.