This story is part of FanSided’s Fandoms of the Year, a series spotlighting the teams, athletes and cultures that defined sports fandom in 2025.
Lee Corso coached college football for 15 total years at three different programs. He had a winning record in just five of those seasons. And frankly, there shouldn’t be a college football fan in the world who gives a damn about that, because Corso helped shape the culture of what this great sport has become because of what he did off the college football field.
The voice of Saturday mornings
For nearly four decades, Corso could’ve easily been construed as the figurehead of college football from his chair on College GameDay. His headgear picks became the perfect conclusion for Saturday mornings. The “Not so fast, my friends” and one-liners were not only ubiquitous throughout the sport, but in popular culture as well.
He was an icon in the purest sense of the word, and yet, even all of that fails to encapsulate what made him truly special, and why Saturdays felt a little emptier in the 2025 season after his final College GameDay show at the end of August.
It’s easy to frame Corso as the voice of college football, one that fills you with nostalgia for Saturday mornings spent listening to him on set. For me, what always stood out was how unabashedly passionate he was. That infectious enthusiasm, whether I realized it at the time or not, bled into my own personality — especially when it came to college football.
Passion without pretense
There’s an art to caring about something so deeply but never taking it too seriously. Frankly, it’s something I and everyone else should strive for in more aspects of our lives, but especially when it comes to sports. And Corso was a living, breathing example of that for 38 years on College GameDay.
When I really think about it, he’s the reason that I can be red-in-the-face and losing grip on the English language arguing about the viability of Bo Nix or Notre Dame or whatever with a friend, only to be laughing and joking with the same friend seconds later. That might seem hyperbolic, but it’s not. Corso showed every week that standing by convictions and being true to yourself, even if it leads to a “Not so fast, my friend,” isn’t mutually exclusive to also just enjoying the ride and every second of it.
As Corso waved to the crowd one final time this season, there were some people who said the sport won’t be the same without him. And to some degree, that’s probably true. College GameDay already has a different feel. At the same time, however, what I know unequivocally is that the sport is better, fans are better, and I’m certainly a better college football fan now and moving forward because I was lucky enough to have Corso as a part of my life.
That’s why, as we reflect on his retirement, Corso stands as one of our Fandoms of the Year. Not for what he won, but for how he taught us to care.