Former Head Coach Jim Donnan Declares Bankruptcy; Former Assistant Coach Todd Donnan Sued

Since I don’t have much nice to say about Jim Donnan, I try not to say much at all, but, as has been noted in recent fanshots here at Dawg Sports, Coach Donnan recently filed for bankruptcy.

When the story first broke, it struck me as odd. After all, the Georgia Bulldogs paid Jim Donnan a significant amount of money not to coach the Red and Black, and he subsequently has been gainfully employed as a television and radio college football commentator. Besides, Ray Goff managed to invest his severance money wisely enough to do well in his involuntarily retirement, so shouldn’t Coach Donnan have been capable of doing the same?

As strange as the story seemed from the outset, it has only gotten more bizarre since:

Jim Donnan's name was attached to an accusation of Ponzi scheme involvement in an extensive ESPN report.

We didn't make note at the time of reports of Donnan's family having declared bankruptcy, but it looks like we should have. Both stories have revolved around West Virginia company GLC Limited, which went under after being outed.

The College Football Hall of Fame coach's family is being sued over a decision by Donnan and his wife to transfer assets to their children.

Among the coaches reportedly recruited by Coach Donnan as investors were Frank Beamer, Dennis Franchione, Barry Switzer, and Tommy Tuberville. All right, Coach Beamer, I’ll give you. I’ll even let Coach Tuberville slide by with the benefit of the doubt, but what kind of a fool puts money into anything Coach Switzer and Coach Franchione consider a good idea? Who doesn’t know that’s going to end about as badly for the principals as "Easy Rider"? The only way this story could get any more head-shakingly weird is if it came out that Quincy Carter invested his NFL CFL Arena League signing bonus in the deal.

In Coach Donnan’s defense, both Coach Beamer and Coach Tuberville have indicated that they believe it was just a business deal that went wrong, and that Coach Donnan was not culpable. Ed Tolley, who frequently has represented the University, also serves as Coach Donnan’s attorney in this matter, and he reports that Mark Richt’s predecessor offered to pay his creditors $5 million but was forced to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition when they demanded more than the former coach had to give. Because the resulting bankruptcy stay prevented those creditors from suing Jim Donnan directly, they filed suit against the coach’s children, including former Georgia quarterbacks coach Todd Donnan, instead.

Don’t get me wrong . . . I’m glad it’s been a relatively quiet offseason for the ‘Dawgs, apart from a couple of boneheaded tailbacks and the obligatory scooter incident or two, but could our former players and coaches please quit getting their names in the news in unflattering ways? First Hines Ward, now Jim and Todd Donnan? DavetheDawg is right: July, not April, is the cruelest month. (Take that, T.S. Eliot! Oh, and Julius Caesar can bite a hog in the hindquarters, because this kind of stuff never happened during the month of Quintilis!)

If they knew what was good for them, turkeys would get nervous before Thanksgiving. By the same token, right about now would be a darned good time for every goat in Georgia to start sweating it.

Go ‘Dawgs!