Lee Corso is a college football icon. After covering the sport for 38 years, he’s saying goodbye to the ESPN audience and retiring from College GameDay. He will make his final appearance on the show during week one of the college football season.
The 89-year-old former Louisville and Indiana head football coach was hired by ESPN as an analyst for its fledgling College GameDay show in 1987. They took the show on the road in 1993 and slowly started to change the way college football fans consume their favorite sport.
Unlike most analysts at the time, Corso didn’t take himself too seriously. Yes, he could talk ball, but he knew entertaining the audience was a priority. In 1995, he injected life into a picks segment by throwing on the head of Brutus Buckeye to pick Ohio State to beat Penn State. The Buckeyes rolled, and it became a tradition. College football Saturdays did not officially start until you saw Corso’s headgear.
Throwback to Lee Corso’s very first headgear pick on College GameDay
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— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 12, 2023
Corso wore the headgear on College Gameday more than 400 times. Ahead of that 400th selection in 2023, ESPN compiled the stats. He had a 66.5% record with 266 wins and 134 losses. Brutus Buckeye was the most popular selection, just ahead of Alabama and LSU.
The College GameDay crew has only traveled to Lexington once. A week after the Cats beat No. 1 LSU in triple-overtime in 2007, Lee Corso and the crew were on-hand for Kentucky vs. Florida. Tim Tebow’s Gators won a shootout 45-37.
Kentucky fans weren’t his biggest fans. After all, he used to coach at Louisville and Indiana. He rarely picked the Cats to win, while Kirk Herbstreit remained in Mark Stoops’ corner. Herbie was the only College GameDay analyst who correctly predicted that Will Levis‘ Cats would triumph over Anthony Richardson‘s Gators back in 2022.
In 2009, Corso suffered a stroke. It slowed him down, but even in his older age, it was hard to keep him off the College GameDay set. Herbstreit showed grace in his later years, always helping his old mentor find the right words to say.
“Coach Corso has had an iconic run in broadcasting, and we’re all lucky to have been around to witness it,” Herbstreit said in a statement. “He has taught me so much throughout our time together, and he’s been like a second father to me. It has been my absolute honor to have the best seat in the house to watch Coach put on that mascot head each week.”
College GameDay revamped its cast last fall, adding Nick Saban alongside Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard, and Herbstreit to inject new life into the show. It was a smash hit. The show had its best ratings in years. There were plenty of emotional moments last season and there will not be a dry eye on the set when Corso puts on the headgear one final time this fall.
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