Arizona St. Asks UCLA’s Permission to Talk to Terry Donahue

PHOENIX —  Arizona State Athletic Director Dick Tamburo reportedly has asked for permission to talk to UCLA football Coach Terry Donahue about the vacant Sun Devil head-coaching job.

The Arizona Republic reported in its Monday editions that Tamburo has already contacted UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis to arrange the discussion with Donahue.

Arizona State is in search of a successor to Darryl Rogers, who resigned Feb. 6 to become the head coach and director of football operations for the National Football League’s Detroit Lions.

Donahue, 40, said he has “not been officially contacted” about the Sun Devil job, but the Republic quoted a source as saying “there’s a definite interest by both sides. The money is there and the interest is there. The big hangup now is the multi-year contract.”

UCLA offers five-year contracts to its coaches while Arizona State is limited by state law to one-year deals.

Legislation to allow multi-year contracts to football coaches at Arizona’s three universities has passed the state Senate and is now in the House, however.

The Republic also said the school’s major booster group--The Sun Angel Foundation--is prepared to contribute up to $100,000 toward the new Arizona State coach’s financial package, which could be around $250,000 counting revenue from his television show.

Donahue, in his ninth year at UCLA, reportedly earns between $100,000 and $150,000.