At 90 years old with 38 seasons in the books, Lee Corso has made his last headgear pick on ESPN’s College Gameday. The entertainment that Corso provided while giving real insight — breaking down the matchups for every game — was the best in the business.
Corso began his football career as a starting quarterback at Miami Jackson High School. Football was not his only sport; in 1953 he got an offer to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers of Major League Baseball along with a $5,000 signing bonus.
Instead, Corso decided to go to Florida State University (FSU), where he played cornerback. After four years there he secured the school interceptions record with 14, a record that stood for over 20 years.
Corso landed his first job as a college coach at the University of Maryland as the quarterback coach from 1959 to 1965. Under his leadership at Maryland, he recruited the first African-American player in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Darryl Hill.
After some work with the Naval Academy as the defensive backs coach, he would get his first shot at the head coaching position at the University of Louisville. In four years as the head coach, he had a winning season every year. Corso would bring Louisville to victory in its second bowl game ever.
This was one of many champion moments throughout his career.
He brought life back into the struggling Indiana University football program by leading them to their first ever Bowl appearance — winning the Holiday Bowl in 1979. Corso would finish his career with the Hoosiers with a record of (41-68-2) over the course of 10 seasons with the program.
Corso held other head coaching jobs at Northern Illinois University and with the short lived Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League in 1985. After another year of coaching, he hung up the whistle and decided to pick up a microphone.
His broadcasting career began in 1987. A new crew was on the rise at ESPN to host a new in-studio college football show called College Gameday. Corso was one of the founding members of the crew, and he shocked fans with his immense football knowledge and showmanship.
College Gameday made its way out of the studio and onto different college campuses each week in 1993, which became a staple of the show.
He began his most noted segment during the 1996 show, featuring the Ohio State University (OSU) and Penn State University matchup. Instead of Corso making his regular picks, he pulled the Ohio State mascot, Brutus Buckeye’s, head from under the desk and put it on. This would start a long standing tradition on College Gameday — Corso would make his pick of the day by wearing the team’s mascot head.
This tradition lived alongside Corso’s catch phrase, “not so fast my friend,” ignited when he disagreed with one of his co-hosts. Corso didn’t just make these picks, he was consistently able to back them up.
Throughout his time on College Gameday, once he started his mascot head picks, Corso held a 286-144 when it came to his picks, a proud owner of a .665 win percentage. His best year of headgear picks was 1999 when he went 11-0.
This season, Corso decided that it was going to be his last and his last show had to be during Week One of the college football season.
His picks during his last show were FSU beating No. 8 University of Alabama, No. 13 University of South Carolina to beat Virginia Tech, No. 9 Louisiana State University to take down the No. 4 Clemson University Tigers at home and for his final picks, he chose No. 24 University of Tennessee taking down Syracuse University and No. 10 Miami University taking down No. 5 University of Notre Dame.
For Corso’s final mascot head pick, it was just like his first one way back in 1996 when he picked No. 3 OSU to take down the No. 1 team University of Texas.
All of Corso’s picks he made for his final show on College Gameday were correct, going out with a bang — just like that on the first day 29 years ago when he first took Brutus Buckeye’s head from under his desk to reveal his winning choices.
