Ex-UGA coach Donnan to enter Hall of Fame

Eight-plus years after being fired as Georgia’s coach, Jim Donnan was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

He will be inducted this summer as a member of the Hall’s “divisional” class, which includes players and coaches from NCAA divisions I-AA, II and III and the NAIA. He was considered in that class because he spent more years as head coach at Marshall, which was then I-AA, than at Georgia.

“There’s no question it’s one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever had in coaching,” Donnan said Tuesday. “It’s a testimony to all the good players we had. We had a good run up there at Marshall, and we did some good things [at Georgia].

“It’s just good to feel like your peers have the respect for you to put you in this hallowed ground, so to speak.”

Donnan is among two coaches and four players who will be inducted in the divisional class during ceremonies July 18-19 in South Bend, Ind., the Hall of Fame announced.

He coached Marshall to a 64-21 record, four I-AA title games and one national championship in six seasons (1990-95). He then had a 40-19 record in five seasons at Georgia (1996-2000).

Donnan, 64, continues to live in Athens and does some TV and radio work.

“I want to make sure everybody realizes how much the University of Georgia meant to me,” he said. “Coach [Mark] Richt has gone on and taken it to another level, but I feel like we came into a program that was on probation and got it started.”