Lee Corso opens up on being away from ESPN College GameDay in retirement: 'It sucks'

Earlier this year, Lee Corso officially made his final appearance on ESPN College GameDay after hosting the show for 32 years. On Monday, WESH‘s Daren Stoltzfus asked the college football icon how the season has been for him without appearing on the show. As usual, Corso provided a hilarious response.

“Lousy,” Corso said. “I hate it. I can’t watch College GameDay. I just can’t get used to it. I’m not working anymore. I used to fly all over. It sucks.”

Corso began hosting the beloved weekly pregame show in 1993. He was most well-known for his legendary segment when he’d put on the headgear of whichever team he was picking to win in the show’s game of the week.

Before joining ESPN, Corso served as the head coach at Louisville (1969-72), Indiana (1973-82) and Northern Illinois (1984). He accumulated a career head coaching record of 73-85-6 and won two conference titles at Louisville.

Corso and the College GameDay crew traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for his final show to cover the Ohio State–Texas game. On the show, the crew always reveals their picks for the biggest games of the week. In his final appearance on the show, Corso was correct on all six of his predictions.

The send-off show averaged 3.5 million viewers across ESPN and ESPNU, making it the most-watched College GameDay episode in the history of the show. Viewership peaked at 5.1 million viewers in the final quarter hour, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals.

While Corso is no longer on the show, his catchphrases and entertaining attitude lives on through the crew. Corso particularly has a special friendship with ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

“What’s unique is people see you with the headgear and all the silly stuff you do. But I think what we see is the smile every Friday meeting,” Herbstreit said to Corso in August. “Whether you’re the makeup artist or Rece Davis and everybody in between, you just lightened everybody up. You lifted everybody up.

“You’ve done that, I’m sure as a coach, but our experience with you, for me over the last 30 years, it’s like, I’ve never seen you have a bad day. If you’re having a bad day, you never really showed you’re having a bad day. You’re always positive, and you’re the backbone of what this show has been about.”

Perhaps Lee Corso can reminisce on good times this weekend while the ESPN College GameDay crew travels to Ann Arbor for “The Game” between Ohio State and Michigan. The rival teams will face off at noon ET on FOX.