Lee Corso was just another out-of-work football coach when ESPN threw him a lifeline back in 1987.In Corso’s 15 seasons as a college head coach his teams at Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois lost more than they won. His one-season stint as coach of the Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League ended 5-13 the year the league went belly up in 1985.
And so while Corso trolled for coaching jobs, he broadcast indoor football for a season before being parked on a 30-minute ESPN studio pre-game show to work alongside Tim Brando and Beano Cook on the fledgling College
GameDay.
The year was 1987. He was 52.
“Everybody else knew I was finished coaching,” Corso said in an interview this week. “Only I didn’t.”
Turned out, Corso proved a better fit in the studio than on the sidelines. It wasn’t long before he gave up his last vestiges of hope that he might coach again.
When a three-hour College GameDay begins its 25th season outside Cowboys Stadium on Saturday morning, in advance of the LSU-Oregon season opener, The 76-year-old Corso will be on stage alongside Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard.
Over the years, hosts and other analysts have come and gone while Corso has remained the show’s constant. It has grown steadily picking up its greatest momentum in 1993 when it transformed itself from the studio to a road show.
Corso famously picked his alma mater, No. 1 Florida State, to beat No. 2 Notre Dame that November day. Naturally, Notre Dame won. Three seasons later, the increasingly grandfatherly Corso added dramatic flair to his prognostication performances by donning the mascot head of his pick. The wacky bit has become a highlight of the show.
Corso has survived in a business that favors the young, the beautiful and the former stars because he has never taken himself too seriously on the air. That is not to say he doesn’t take his job seriously. A quarter of a century into the gig, no one works harder than Corso.
Even a stroke he suffered outside his Orlando home in May 2009 has not decreased his enthusiasm for his job. The stroke damaged the muscles on the right side of his body. It also left him unable to speak. He spent eight tortuous days in the hospital debating himself on his mortality.
He spent little time worrying about his career.
“I was just hoping that my life wasn’t over,” Corso said.
When he finally was released from the hospital, Corso became determined he would be ready for work at the start of the 2009 season. He immersed himself in speech, physical and occupational therapies. He spent so much time learning about the recovery process, he deemed himself an expert on the subject.
On Sept. 5, less than four months after he lay helpless in his driveway, unable to call for help, Corso reported for GameDay duty in Atlanta.
ESPN might have encouraged Corso to retire after a symbolic comeback. Instead, it found a way to keep him working. Corso is a brand within a brand.
The cable network lightened his workload. While his GameDay partners work SportsCenter and other ESPN duties on Fridays, Corso heads back to the hotel to rest after production meetings. That’s after usually arriving at GameDay sites on Thursdays and heading immediately to his hotel to rest. He says he functions much better earlier in the day than at night.
I had my latest conversation with Corso by telephone around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Sorry if my voice is not perfect,” he said. “I’m trying my best. ... My speech gets terrible when I don’t rest. It’s still a struggle.”
So how much longer will Corso keep working?
“Forever if it’s up to me,” he said, clearly and concisely. “Coaching was a job. This is a privilege.”source
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