Lee Corso, ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ host, announces retirement

A 38-year career with ESPN “College GameDay” is ending as host Lee Corso announces he is retiring.

Corso will retire in August.

“My family and I will be forever indebted for the opportunity to be part of ESPN and College GameDay for nearly 40 years,” Corso said. “I have a treasure of many friends, fond memories and some unusual experiences to take with me into retirement.”

He is known for his headgear picks and saying “not so fast, my friend” when he disagreed with one of the other football experts.

The headgear pick segment started at the 1995 Ohio State game against Penn State where he would don helmets, mascot heads and other outfits such as Notre Dame’s leprechaun, Stanford’s tree, James Madison and Ben Franklin.

Over the past 30 years, he went 286-144 in 430 selections.

During broadcasts, he would hold a No. 2 pencil, a slight plug for his side gig. When he wasn’t behind the desk during the college football season, he was the director of business development for pencil maker Dixon Ticonderoga.

Before joining ESPN, he was a coach at the college and pro levels. He was the head coach at Louisville, Indiana, Northern Illinois and the USFL’s Orlando Renegades

He is the only original “College GameDay” member of the show left. He was a contributor before joining as an analyst.

He is a member of the Hall of Fames at Florida State, Louisville and Indiana, the state of Florida’s Sports Hall of Fame and Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Florida State Alumni Association’s Gold Medal in 2006 and the National College Football Awards Association Contributions to College Football Award in 2010.

His last broadcast will be Aug. 30, week 1 of the college football season, with special programming planned to honor his long career.

Corso turns 90 on Aug. 7.

0 of 37