The 2025 college football season kicks off in earnest Saturday with several powerhouse matchups, including No. 1 Texas at No. 2 Ohio State. It will also be the end of an era, with ESPN analyst Lee Corso making his final appearance on College GameDay.
What has Corso meant to college football fans?
The 89-year-old Corso has been known as the godfather of college football Saturdays for nearly four decades. He’s also known as the grandpa who made the best pregame show in sports history so much fun to watch. He became known over the years for his outspoken opinions and picks often punctuated by donning the headgear of the mascot from the team he thought would win.
He’s worn more than 400 mascot headgears in his 38 years on the GameDay set. It’s a college football tradition, and Saturday at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Brutus the Buckeyes’ mascot head will likely be waiting for him during a ceremony at midfield – or will he pick the Texas Longhorns’ Hook ‘Em headgear?
What has he meant to his fellow broadcasters?
“Not So Fast,” as Coach Corso loves to say while putting the brakes on any debate about who was going to win. His impact went well beyond broadcasting and mascots. College GameDay’s original host, Chris Fowler, said Tuesday that Corso’s passion always came through on the set.
“He’s such a beloved guy,” Fowler said. “I think when reality hits and you get out there and you realize that we won’t see that again. That’s when I think people are going to start to lose it. I mean, I think the show will go on. Gameday is a powerhouse. But Lee Corso’s brought something to not just Gameday, but the sports TV landscape that is wholly unique.”
Corso joined ESPN in 1987, following a 28-year career at the college and pro levels, including 17 seasons as a head coach at Louisville, Indiana, Northern Illinois and in the USFL. He was a star defensive back for the Florida State Seminoles in the 1950s. The network honored him at this summer’s ESPY awards, and co-analyst Kirk Herbstreit has called him a father figure.
“I feel like I’ve had the best seat really in all of college football for these last 30 years right next to coach right before he pulled that headgear out or said something that nobody else would say,” Herbstreit said. “There’s so many lessons and such a special bond that I’m so lucky to share with one of the great spirits and great minds that college football has ever seen.”
Corso responded after a brief video montage on the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, “My goal on TV was to bring a smile to everybody’s face. I hope I have done that,” Corso said.
How many fans did the coach impact?
Herbstreit and others working at the network have said Corso was always a coach first and taught them life lessons, most importantly, that covering the game should be fun. One of the coach’s favorite sayings is, “We’re in the entertainment business, and college football is the vehicle.” It’s a sentiment that at least two generations of fans recognize. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said Tuesday that Corso’s impact on people was the biggest gift.
“Another great ambassador of the game,” Day said. ”Just somebody who’s been positive and builds people up, and you know he’s somebody that I remember just so many years of putting on the mascot heads and just making Saturdays so enjoyable for so many people.”
A personal coach Corso moment
Enjoyable indeed, even when the game is rained out. In August 2000, I was a local sports reporter covering a game in Blacksburg, Virginia, between the 11th-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies and Georgia Tech, when the game was postponed due to a storm. The GameDay crew was there too, and famously, Corso’s red rental car was struck by a massive lightning bolt shortly after he picked against Michael Vick’s Hokies to play for the national championship. Coincidence?
Soon after the game was called, my photographer and I arrived at the hotel. A lone car pulled up a minute later, the door opened, and out hopped the coach. As he walked quickly by, he looked at us and said, “I found the one Hokie fan who would take mercy on me.” College Saturdays won’t ever be the same.
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Author: Chris Francis
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