Death, taxes and Lee Corso's headgear picks. Those seem to have been the constants in every sports fan's life for the last few decades, but after Week 0 of the upcoming college football season, at least one of them won't be.
Legendary sports broadcaster and college football head coach Lee Corso, a long-time analyst on ESPN's College GameDay, will be retiring after nearly 40 years on the popular program.
The 89 year old, who turns 90 on Aug. 7, will be hanging up his microphone and giving up his famous headgear picks after the first show of the 2024-25 season on Aug. 30.
"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 in a statement released by ESPN on Thursday. "I have a treasure of many friends, fond memories and some unusual experiences to take with me into retirement."
Lee Corso's College GameDay retirement message will make fans tear up
Fans of GameDay know well that Corso has been close with his panel-mate Kirk Herbstreit. The two share bits on air and have been the definition of best buds on college football Saturdays for years. Herbstreit posted on X on Friday a message from Corso, who had observed all the kind messages in response to his retirement announcement.
Ya gotta know our guy doesn’t have a computer let alone social media…haha…so I called him just now to make sure he knew how much the CFB community has been pouring out their love for him..as we talked about other things we were about to hang up and he said “hey Kirk can you put… pic.twitter.com/qtvQkF9IYH
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) April 18, 2025
"Ya gotta know our guy doesn’t have a computer let alone social media…haha…so I called him just now to make sure he knew how much the CFB community has been pouring out their love for him," Herbstreit wrote, relaying Corso's message to fans.
"As we talked about other things we were about to hang up and he said, 'Hey Kirk, can you put up on your Facebook or Twitter or whatever it is how much I appreciate all the well wishes-it really means a lot to me'-and I told him, ' don’t have Facebook but I’ll definitely send out a tweet to let people know how much you appreciate it.'"
"It’s hard to let go I’m sure-but he really sounds like he’s at peace and it’s the right time. God bless him-he’s the best!" Herbstreit continued.
College GameDay and Saturdays in the fall will never be the same, but fans will are better off knowing they got to experience Corso's eccentricity and the flare he brought to every broadcast.