Over the years, Lee Corso has worn many hats. Not just as an analyst on ESPN‘s College GameDay, but in a life revolving around the game he loves, football. He is a beloved host on the weekly panel of football experts; his charisma and childlike enthusiasm make him a fan favorite. Corso has been a part of College GameDay since the show’s debut in 1987. His weekly headgear picks have become as synonymous with Saturday mornings as cartoons and cereal. After 38 years, Corso is walking away from the show.

Corso Goes To College

Corso has had a storied football career, beginning in 1953 as a two-sport star at Florida State University, playing quarterback and cornerback for the Seminoles football team and Shortstop for their baseball team. Prior to taking the field for FSU, he was offered a contract to play baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but turned them down to pursue football instead. Corso also shared a backfield with his roommate, running back-turned-actor, Burt Reynolds… yup – that Burt Reynolds.

While mainly known for playing quarterback, as a defensive back, Corso set the school record for career interceptions with 14, a record that has since been broken. He is currently tied for third all-time, sharing the spot with Deion Sanders. Corso earned a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and a master’s degree in Administration and Supervision during his time in Tallahassee.

Coach Corso

In 1958, Corso got his first taste of coaching as a graduate assistant coach at FSU while pursuing his master’s. The following year, he followed his former coach, Tommy Nugent, to the University of Maryland, where he would become the team’s quarterbacks coach. Corso was instrumental in recruiting wide receiver Darryl Hill to play for the Terps in 1962. Hill would become the first African-American athlete to receive an athletic scholarship from a major university.

Corso left Maryland in 1966 to be the defensive backs coach at Navy. Three years later, Louisville would make him its head coach. He would coach a young linebacker named Tom Jackson, who would later join him at ESPN. Corso led the Cardinals to face Long Beach State in the Pasadena Bowl in 1970. The game would end knotted in a 24-24 tie. Soon, Coach Corso would be on the road again.

Indiana would lure Corso to leave Louisville and take over as head coach of the Hoosiers, where he would have his most success as a head coach. In a 1976 game against rival Ohio State, Corso called a timeout after Indiana took a 7-6 lead in the 2nd quarter so his team could pose for a picture in front of the scoreboard. This was the first time in 25 years that Indiana had led Ohio State in a game. The Buckeyes won the game 47-7. In 1979, the Hoosiers would defeat the previously unbeaten BYU in the Holiday Bowl. This victory bumped the Hoosiers up to 16th in the rankings, the school’s first top-20 rank in twelve seasons.

After ten seasons, the school moved on from Corso. After being fired by Indiana, Coach’s next stop was Northern Illinois. Following a pedestrian 4-6-1 season, he left NIU to coach the USFL’s Orlando Renegades. The Renegades had just relocated from Washington, D.C. (as the Washington Federals) and needed a coach, and since he had formerly played for FSU and had a great history as a football coach, Corso seemed like a natural fit. The team started slow, dropping its first six games, but would finish the year with five wins and thirteen losses. Coach was planned to return the following season, but the league ultimately folded instead.

College GameDay

In 1987, ESPN hired Coach Corso to be an analyst for their new college football pre-game show, College GameDay, which airs on Saturday mornings during football season. Once a studio show, in 1993, GameDay took on a new format – a giant tailgate party hosted by one of the schools featured to play that day. Thousands of college kids gather each week wearing their school colors, waving flags, and flaunting their home-made signs and banners, and Coach is their king.

Headgear Picks/End of an Era

On October 5, 1996, while on campus at Ohio State, GameDay’s panel of experts was making their game predictions, Corso reached down next to his seat and pulled up the mascot head of Brutus Buckeye and wore it proudly, thus starting a tradition of predicting the winner of the host school’s game by donning the mascot’s headgear. This Saturday ritual has been a fan-favorite segment for nearly 29 years.

On August 30, 2025, Coach will make his final headgear pick, where it all started, Columbus, Ohio, home of the Buckeyes. While it will be bittersweet to see the end of an era, Corso is 90 years old and has given his entire adult life to the game he loves, and for the last 38 years, he’s given himself to us. Enjoy your retirement, Coach.

While I want to see him watching football from a beach chair somewhere, enjoying retirement, I can almost hear him say, “Not so fast, my friend,” as he waves his pencil in the air and emerges from a sea of rowdy students to make his way to his throne beside Kirk Herbstreit to make another headgear pick, before fading back into retirement. Part of me feels like he isn’t done yet, but maybe that’s just my selfishness, as I am not ready to see him go just yet.