In December 1982, Lee Corso, then the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers football team, learned he had been fired while listening to the radio during a recruiting trip. Although university president John Ryan had previously supported Corso and extended his contract, athletic director Ralph Floyd moved to end Corso’s tenure after declining fan attendance and only two winning seasons in ten years.
Despite the abrupt nature of his dismissal, Corso did not express anger. Instead, he maintained his connection to Bloomington due to family and friends in the area. His loyalty was highlighted by an encounter with future Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Rod Woodson. On The Rich Eisen Show, Woodson described his experience:
“So, I’m getting recruited out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I’m thinking about going to Indiana. Lee Corso drives up to the house from Bloomington to Fort Wayne, and he knocks on my door. And I’m like, ‘Oh! Hey, coach. How are you?’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, before I get into this whole thing, I just want to let you know that I just found out that I was fired over the radio.’ But he still gave love to IU (…) And I was like, ‘Wait, wait a minute, coach. They just fired you on the radio. They fired you on the radio, and you still want me to go down and do an official visit to IU? No, I can’t do that… And I’m like, ‘Coach, if they treated you like that, how are they going to treat me? I’m just a player.’ […] So, I was like, ‘Nah, that’s okay’ (…) But I tell you what; I gave him much respect because that’s a long drive. He could have been angry. He could have been bad about IU; and all he did was give them love; and he still tried to get me to go down there.”
After leaving Indiana at age 47 following positions at Louisville under athletic director Bill Olsen—who reportedly offered him a job after hearing about Corso’s departure—Corso took time before making any decisions about his career path. By January 1983 he was following advice from former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes: not closing options too early.
Corso did not take another coaching role until joining Northern Illinois in 1984 before moving on to coach the Orlando Renegades in 1985. In 1987 Corso joined ESPN as a college football analyst and has since remained part of its Saturday College GameDay program for nearly four decades.
Now aged ninety years old as of August 2025—having decided to step back from regular broadcasting duties—Corso will appear on his final “GameDay” broadcast August 30 when No. 1 Texas faces No. 2 Ohio State in a game televised by ESPN alongside a special one-hour tribute.
