For nearly 40 years,Lee Corsohas been a fixture of ESPN's "College GameDay," a merry court jester who helped propel the program to a traveling roadshow attracting thousands of people at the sites of that week's biggestcollege footballgame. His catchphrases, charisma and candor turned a sub-.500 coach into one of the most compelling figures in the history of sports broadcasting. Relive Lee Corso's epic 'GameDay' moments in new book The Saturday, Aug. 30 broadcast of "GameDay" from Columbus, Ohio — where No. 1 Texas will take onNo. 2 Ohio State— will be Corso's final show before the 90-year-old retires, as part of an arrangementESPN announced in April. Though "GameDay" will continue without him, the show will always be missing without the man who helped build it into the behemoth it became. To get a better idea of how Corso became the revered figure he is today — and to honor him before his final time on the show — here's a look back at some of his most memorable "GameDay" moments: PATH TO THE PLAYOFFSign up for our college football newsletter Perhaps nothing Corso did on "GameDay" generated more attention than his headgear picks, when he would wrap up the show's game prediction segment by donning the mascot head of whichever team he believed would win the game where "GameDay" was broadcasting. The bit would occasionally go off the rails, with Corso sometimes handling a live animal, fighting a human mascot or firing a gun. As iconic as it became, it wasn't always a part of the "GameDay" ritual. Corso first put on a mascot head when submitting a pick for an October 1996 game between No. 3 Ohio State at No. 4 Penn State in Columbus, Ohio. Corso reached under the "GameDay" desk and pulled out the head of Brutus Buckeye, the Ohio State mascot, to pick theBuckeyes— much to the delight of the scarlet-and-gray-clad faithful gathered behind the "GameDay" set. Corso ended up being correct, with Ohio State beating Penn State 38-7. For as much as the headgear pick has become a spectacle, Corso has been right with his predictions far more often than he's been wrong. Beginning with his prescient Buckeye head display in 1996, Corso has gone 286-144 on 430 career headgear picks. Occasionally, Corso's headgear picked involved something more than putting on a mascot head. While broadcasting live outside No. 10 Houston's game against SMU in 2011, Corso began the preamble to his pick by praising the heavy underdog Mustangs and complimenting their red, white and blue color scheme while holding up an SMU megaphone. What followed that might be the most famous, and certainly most vulgar, moment in "GameDay" history. Corso tossed the megaphone away, said, "Aw, (expletive) it" and put on the head of Shasta, Houston's cougar mascot. (Warning: this clip contains profanity) The moment was just as great for the reactions of "GameDay" co-hosts Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, as well as celebrity guest-picker Carl Lewis, who were visibly shocked and amused all at once. "I have seen that 100 times and I laugh out loud every time,"Fowler said of it 10 years later. Corso's relationship with college mascots wasn't always so gentle. In 2008, while on site for No. 3 Georgia's game against No. 10 Alabama in Athens, Georgia, Corso had some choice words for Uga, Georgia's live bulldog mascot, who was perched atop the "GameDay" desk. "I would have gone to Georgia if I didn't go to Florida State, but that dog is ugly!" Corso said before putting on the headgear for Big Al, Alabama's elephant mascot. Eventually, the two mended fences. Fifteen years later, ESPN had Corso film an apology video. But as he did so, the bulldog he was holding on a leash — who wasn't Uga —started to poop right near Corso's foot. "He s--- right on my foot." 😭This moment when Coach tried to apologize to Uga was an all-timer 🤣Watch him make his 400th headgear pick this Saturday on#CollegeGameDay👏pic.twitter.com/Vgg7E3N3jW — College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay)September 13, 2023 No catchphrase of Corso's is as indelible as, "Not so fast, my friend," which he deployed whenever he disagreed with a fellow panelist's analysis or game prediction. On one particularly memorable day, he saved it for a much smaller target — literally. While at Oregon ahead of the Ducks' top-15 matchup against Stanford, Corso interjected after 4-year-old Oregon fan Braden Pape, serving as the celebrity guest-picker, picked Yale to beat Harvard in a matchup of the historic rivals. Corso disagreed, saying "Not so fast" and punctuating it with what's generally considered to be a pejorative term for people of small physical stature. Corso, already 77 years old at the time, didn't appear to think he said anything out of the ordinary, tapping a laughing Herbstreit asking him, "What's the matter?" before his co-host made his pick. While his choice of words was questionable, Corso turned out to be right to disagree: The Crimson beat the Bulldogs 34-24. In November 2002, "GameDay" made its first and only trek to the University of Pennsylvania, the first time the program had ever been to any Ivy League or FCS school. Since the school's mascot, the Quakers, didn't make for an easy headgear pick, Corso took the next logical step, dressing up as the university's founder, Benjamin Franklin — down to the bald cap and signature spectacles. "I founded Penn!"Corso saidwhile picking Penn to beat Harvard. "This is my school!" A decade later, he once again donned a wig and Colonial-era garb — this time as President James Madison — while picking the eponymously named university to beat Richmond in 2015. "God bless the Dukes and God bless the United States of America!"he shouted to a crowdwhile holding up a book after walking out of Woodrow Wilson Hall in the school's main quad. It's not often Corso is outshined on the "GameDay" set. But it occasionally happens. In 2014, Katy Perry, then one of the biggest pop stars in the world, was the celebrity guest-picker for Ole Miss' game against Alabama in Oxford, Mississippi. While Perry played to the home crowd by picking the Rebels, Corso set up his prediction by asking Perry if she liked music before having Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" play over the loudspeakers. Corso then put on the head of Alabama's Big Al elephant mascot and playfully waved its trunk at Perry. After jokingly throwing corn dogs at the "GameDay" cameras, Perry then ripped the mascot headgear off Corso, much to his amusement. Corso spent 10 of his 15 seasons as a college head coach at Indiana, where the historically hapless Hoosiers struggled for much of his tenure, going 41-68-2. In 2024, with Indiana off to an undefeated start in a season in which it made the College Football Playoff, "GameDay" made its first-ever visit to Bloomington for the Hoosiers' game against Washington. There, Corso received a warm welcome while wearing the crimson sweater he was often photographed in during his time in Indiana. When picking the Hoosiers to win, he put on a hat from his 1979 team's win against BYU in the Holiday Bowl: the first bowl victory in program history. That day, Indiana fared better than many of Corso's teams did, throttling Washington 38-7 to improve to 8-0. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Lee Corso retirement: 'GameDay' analyst's most memorable moments
