Lee Corso is one of college football’s signature voices and a member of ESPN’s nine-time Emmy-Award winning College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Saturday morning pregame show. For nearly four decades, he has been a constant in ESPN’s coverage, including countless national championships and other major college football events.

Corso joined ESPN in 1987 and is College GameDay’s only remaining original on-air personality. (He was a contributor in 1987-88 and joined as a full-time analyst in 1989.)

Corso is best known for his College GameDay headgear selection, the end-of-show segment in which he uses a mascot head or related headgear to pick the team that will win the matchup from where the show is originating. Through the 2024 season, Corso has an all-time record of 286-144, while donning the headgear of 69 different teams. He will retire from his legendary role with a final College GameDay appearance and 431st headgear pick at the Week 1 show on Aug. 30, 2025 (site TBD).

Corso joined ESPN after 28 years as a coach at the college and professional levels, including 17 seasons as a head coach. In four seasons at Louisville (1969-72), he compiled a 28-11-3 mark and captured two Missouri Valley Conference Championships (1970 and ’72) while taking the Cardinals to the 1970 Pasadena Bowl. It was the first Louisville football bowl appearance since 1958. Corso then moved to Indiana in 1973 where he spent 10 seasons as the head coach, leading the Hoosiers to their first bowl victory in 75 years, a 38-37 decision over previously unbeaten Brigham Young in the 1979 Holiday Bowl. Corso also coached Northern Illinois in 1984 before taking over the reins of the Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League (USFL) in 1985 for one season.

Corso began his coaching career as an assistant for 11 seasons (1958-68) at Florida State, Maryland and Navy. In addition, from January-July 1991, Corso served as General Manager of the World League’s Orlando Thunder.

Corso received four varsity letters in both football and baseball at Florida State. He is a member of the athletic Halls of Fame at FSU, Louisville and Indiana, in addition to the state of Florida Sports Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received the Florida State Alumni Association’s Gold Medal, the university’s highest alumni honor, and in 2010 the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) honored him with the Contributions to College Football Award in recognition of his lifetime of achievement and integrity in the sport. In 2024, when GameDay travelled to Bloomington, Ind., the mayor proclaimed it “Coach Lee Corso Day” in his honor as friends, family members and former players and coaches returned to campus.

In 2001, Sporting News magazine selected Corso as the 17th most influential person in college football. In January 2004, the magazine ranked Corso and fellow GameDaypersonalities – Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit – as 2003’s “Most Powerful Media Personalities in Sports.” Throughout its nearly four-decade history, GameDay has captured nine Sports Emmys (in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2024). In 2006, College GameDay received the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award.

A graduate of Florida State, Corso earned a bachelor of arts degree in physical education and a master’s degree in administration and supervision. Corso also served as director of business development for Dixon Ticonderoga in Heathrow, Fla., an international diversified manufacturer and marketer of writing and arts products.

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