Donahue: UCLA loss no grounds for panic

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Just bumped into former UCLA coach Terry Donahue (right) in the Oakland Coliseum press box. He’s here as a radio analyst for the Raiders-Chargers game.

Donahue says he’s encouraged about what he’s seeing from the Bruins, even though they lost Saturday to Fresno State. Hey, at least they were competitive. So what did he think about the misguided attempt by UCLA’s marketing department to sell tickets to Fresno State fans?

‘I thinks it’s unfortunate that everybody didn’t discuss that before it happened,’ he said. ‘Those kinds of things, they’re just not conducive to what you’re trying to get done with your football program.’

I asked him if he can remember any similar situations when he was there. He recalled a time early in his career when he was preparing the Bruins for a game against USC, with a Rose Bowl berth hanging in the balance. The UCLA groundskeeper accidentally left the sprinklers on overnight on the practice field, and the team had to use the intramural fields for its Tuesday and Wednesday practices. They were woefully insufficient, which might or might not have had something to do with UCLA ultimately losing the game.

So after all these years, can Donahue laugh about the situation?

‘No -- and you can put an exclamation point after that,’ he said. ‘I still see that groundskeeper’s face in my head.’

-- Sam Farmer