For one final time, Lee Corso will don the head of a college football mascot and utter his famous catchphrase: “Not so fast, my friend.”
Saturday’s ESPN broadcast of defending national champion Ohio State hosting Texas will signal the end of the era as Corso steps away after a legendary stint in college football.
First as a player, then a coach and finally a broadcaster, the now-90-year-old has been a mainstay in the collegiate ranks for more than 75 years and has had an immeasurable impact.
Known for his larger-than-life personality – and the even bigger mascot heads he’s worn – Corso retires as one of the pioneers of football television.
“My goal on TV was to bring a smile to everybody’s face. I hope I have done that,” Corso said on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles when he was honored at the ESPYs in July.
An impact on every facet of the game
Corso’s football career began in the 1950s when he took the field for the Florida State Seminoles, where he played as both a quarterback and cornerback. As a CB, he held the school record for interceptions for two decades.
After graduating, he turned his attention to coaching. Over a 28-year career, he coached at Louisville, Indiana, Navy and Northern Illinois, as well as a brief stint as the head coach of the Orlando Renegades in the United States Football League (USFL).
His achievements across multiple programs have led to his induction into multiple athletic Halls of Fame, including at Florida State, Louisville and Indiana, in addition to the state of Florida Sports Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.
But it was only when the USFL fell apart in the mid-1980s that Corso turned his attention to television.
He was hired to be part of ESPN’s “College GameDay” program as an analyst in 1987 and, for 38 seasons, has remained an anchor of the team.
In 1996, Corso started something that had a lasting impact not only on the show but on college football as a whole: wearing oversized mascot headgear during live broadcasts.
Ahead of that season’s Ohio State-Penn State game, Corso put on Buckeyes mascot Brutus’ headgear and the rest was history.
Since then, Corso has dressed up as Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Leprechaun, the Stanford Tree, and even rode a motorcycle with the Oregon Duck, among many others that brought smiles to not only the faces of fans but also his colleagues.
Corso would don the comically large headpieces while making game predictions, holding a Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil in hand and uttering his famous catchphrase. This famed tradition has been a staple on ESPN’s college football coverage for almost four decades.
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