It doesn’t seem like Lee Corso is enjoying retirement.
For nearly 40 years (38 to be exact), the legendary football analyst known as Lee Corso would spend his weekends in the fall flying around the country and entertaining football fans on ESPN’s College GameDay. The former football coach – who had stops at Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois in the 70s and 80s – was a staple of the pre-game football show since it first debuted back in 1987.
He was an integral part of the program that has become a college football Saturday staple over the years, and Lee Corso had a gift when it came to presenting college football analysis in a comedic way. Oh, and who could ever forget his world-famous head gear picks that closed the show every week.
Unfortunately, Corso suffered a stroke in 2009, and that forced him to scale back his work on College GameDay. That being said, he continued to appear on the show up until earlier this year, and that was mostly thanks to the help from his fellow panelists like Kirk Herbstreit.
To kick off this current college football season, ESPN’s College GameDay decided to have a celebration of Corso’s work and career by having a send off in Columbus, Ohio in Week 1. When Ohio State and Texas met for an early-season, high-stakes game, the beloved college football show set the stage for Lee Corso to have his “ride off into the sunset moment.” It was quite the spectacle, and if you call yourself a college football fan, you likely shed a tear watching this:
What a beautiful moment.
The only problem? The 90-year-old Lee Corso may have enjoyed that ride off into the sunset, but once that metaphorical sun went down, he realized that life after College GameDay kind of sucks. His words, not mine. Daren Stoltzfus of WESH 2 News asked Corso if he was enjoying his first year away from football, and the former coach and analyst was very blunt with his answer:
“Lousy. I hate it. I can’t watch College GameDay. I just can’t get used to it. I’m not at work anymore. I used to fly all over. It sucks.”
You hate to hear that.
And it doesn’t seem like there’s an ounce of Corso that’s joking when he says that. He might be 90-years-old, but no part of him likes the idea of retirement. Who can blame him, really? Every week during the college football season, Lee was on top of the world and brought crowds of thousands of people joy (or fury) when he picked up a mascot head and put it on. That’s about as cool of a job as you can ask for.
There’s no doubt that Lee Corso deserves to enjoy some time off and live some life outside of football, but when football is your whole life, and then it just goes away, it’s undoubtedly an adjustment. Here’s to hoping that time heals the wound of no longer being an analyst on College GameDay for Corso.
