IF HE WANTED to, Jim Donnan could play an amazing "what-if game" with his football coaching career.

For example, what if Donnan had accepted Bill Parcells' offer in December 1982 to become an assistant with the New York Giants?

"Parcells said he was going to start me out on special teams," Donnan said. "He said, 'I have this young guy who can really help you; his name is Bill Belichick.' "

And there is this: One of the hottest assistants in the country when he was at Missouri, Donnan had job offers after the 1984 season from Penn State's Joe Paterno, Brigham Young's Lavell Edwards and Oklahoma's Barry Switzer.

"That was a no-brainer," Donnan said. "I went to OU."

That brings up one more example: What if OU athletic director Donnie Duncan had selected Donnan to replace Switzer instead of Gary Gibbs?

"Gary deserved the job because he was an OU guy and he'd been there a lot longer than I had," Donnan said in a telephone interview. "I do know I wouldn't have been where I was in coaching if it hadn't been for Coach Switzer."

The 64-year-old Donnan's journey on that long and winding coaching road will reach the pinnacle next month in South Bend, Ind., when he's inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

He's a member of the 2009 Divisional Hall of Fame class, which considers players and coaches from Division I-AA. It was Donnan's remarkable six-year run at Marshall that earned him enshrinement into the most elite fraternity in the college game.

Donnan took Marshall to three I-AA national title games, went 64-21 overall and won it all in 1992. The Thundering Herd had five consecutive 11-plus win seasons, and Donnan twice was named the Division I-AA Coach of the Year.

But the majority of Donnan's career was spent at the I-A level. He was the 1967 ACC Player of the Year after he quarterbacked North Carolina State to its first bowl win and a 9-2 record.

After he almost became N.C. State's head coach when he was only 29, losing out to Lou Holtz, Donnan hit the road. He took his expertise to Florida State, Kansas State and Mizzou before accepting Switzer's offer to replace Mack Brown as the Sooners' offensive coordinator.

In his first season at OU, Donnan demonstrated the depth of his knowledge and his coaching flexibility. The Sooners started the season throwing the ball out of the I-formation behind quarterback Troy Aikman. When Aikman was lost with a broken leg in the fourth game, Donnan replaced him with true freshman Jamelle Holieway and went back to the Wishbone.

The result of the midseason switch was stunning. The Sooners ripped off eight consecutive wins, including a 25-10 victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl, to win the 1985 national title.

"That team really developed," Donnan said. "We had a good run at OU, with a lot of winning and a lot of good kids."

Unfortunately, OU also had a few knuckleheads. It was a series of off-the-field incidents that resulted in Switzer's resignation in June 1989 and forced a scrambling Duncan to consider Gibbs, Donnan and Merv Johnson as possible replacements.

In retrospect, Duncan probably should have gone with Donnan. While Gibbs was introverted and uncomfortable with fans and the media, Donnan resembled Switzer's personality with his extroverted, funny and sometimes-brash approach.

Gibbs was considered a defensive genius, but Donnan was every bit his match on the other side of the ball. And while Gibbs coached only at OU, Donnan demonstrated at every stop that he could run any formation and produce teams that led the nation at different times in rushing, passing and receiving.

After one season on Gibbs' staff, Donnan took the Marshall opportunity and parlayed it into what he thought was his dream job when Georgia hired him in 1996.

The Bulldogs were 40-19 in five seasons under Donnan. They appeared to have it rolling when they won four consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history.

Donnan and thousands of his supporters were stunned when the school president fired him after the 2000 season. Even though athletic director Vince Dooley strongly objected to the move, the president cited three straight losses to rival Georgia Tech and the fact the Bulldogs "only" won eight games in each of the previous two seasons.

We'll never know if Donnan would have done better than Gibbs at OU. But his 104-40 overall record suggests the Sooners could have avoided the lowly Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake eras if Duncan had gone with Donnan.

Donnan knew OU couldn't consider another Switzer assistant after Gibbs was forced to resign. But he hoped the Sooners would call when Schnellenberger was also forced out a year later.

But he figured he was set after he arrived at Georgia and started winning. That's why he turned down offers from North Carolina and North Carolina State to stick with the Bulldogs.

"Looking back, loyalty is a two-way street," said Donnan, who works for ESPN and other media outlets. "We did a lot of really good things at Georgia, but we got ambushed in the end.

"It left a bad taste in my mouth, so I'm really thrilled with this honor. It caps off my career and puts a nice finality on it."

It also means Donnan will never have to play the what-if game again. Making the Hall of Fame means you made a lot of right choices along the way.