Lee Corso Keeps Quips Coming
By Ken Peterson
Pilot Sports
SOUTH BEND � To college football followers, Lee Corso is known as the man everyone hopes goes against their team on ESPN's College Gameday.
As a speaker, you won't find anyone better.
Corso entertained a large crowd at the second College Football Hall of Fame Legends Luncheon Series Thursday afternoon at Century Center.
From stories of his days at Florida State rooming with Burt Reynolds to his hysterical, sidesplitting days as Indiana's head football coach, there was never a dull moment during his speech.
His connections to northern Indiana are strong. Three former players attended the banquet � Chuck Alexander, John Roggeman and Curtis Hill.
In addition, Corso hired quality assistant coaches Wally Moore, Bob Otolski and Bill Doba when he was at Indiana.
"It's great for me to be back in South Bend," Corso said. "This used to be one of my favorite places to come because there are a lot of great people up here."
After graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees from Florida State, he bounced around from school to school. He started at Florida State, then went to Maryland and Navy. He hoped and sometimes prayed for a coaching job.
"I was an assistant coach for 11 years," Corso said. "I use to say to God every night, 'God, yo. Can you get me a head coaching job?'"
His prayers were answered in 1969 when he was named head coach at the University of Louisville. They dropped football in 1972 and Corso set out on his goal to become a Big Ten coach.
He interviewed for the Michigan State job when Duffy Daugherty retired, along with Barry Switzer, John Majors and Denny Stoltz. Stoltz got the job.
Then he got the Indiana job in 1973, beginning a decade long run of entertainment at Memorial Stadium.
"I really enjoyed working for Bobby Knight," Corso said.
One of his first hires was Jim Gruden, father of Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden, who Corso hired for more than his football knowledge.
"I said 'What's your hobby?' He said, 'Golf. I'm good at it. I'm a scratch golfer.' I said, 'You got a job.' He said, 'What is my job.' I said, 'You're going to beat Ara Parseghian at Elcona (Golf Course).'"
They beat Parseghian's Notre Dame staff and Purdue's coaching staff to win the Big Three Golf Trophy, the highlight of a year when his football team was 1-10.
He wanted to bring a Rose Bowl team to Bloomington and pulled out all the stops to get it done.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the Cream and Crimson that went to Pasadena.
"The athletic director called me in in 1973 and said, 'Lee Corso, in 1980, we have an opening game available here in Bloomington. Who would you like to play?' I said, 'I want to play the University of Southern California Trojans. I want to play USC in Bloomington.'"
"He said, 'You're crazy.' I said, 'I just made a speech to the alumni and I promised them that I would bring them a Rose Bowl team to Bloomington.'"
Other exploits earned him national headlines.
Most notable was the time Ohio State came to Bloomington to take on Indiana. The Hoosiers beat Woody Hayes in 1951 and he vowed never to lose to Indiana again.
So when the Hoosiers took a 7-6 first quarter lead, Corso called timeout and wanted to savor the moment.
"We ran down to the scoreboard and took a team picture," he said. "It's been 25 years since Indiana beat that guy and they've never been ahead of him. And I want a picture of that to prove it right there. After the game, a guy says, 'Do you want another picture?' I said, 'No, 47-7 don't look too good.'"
Things were so tough at Indiana he would call ABC and beg to get his program some television exposure. It eventually worked. The Hoosiers got to play against a pretty decent opponent: Nebraska.
"I was hoping for Wabash," he said.
Late in the game, his team drove down the field to score the final points in a 69-17 loss. The broadcasters doing the game named Corso National Coach of the Year for Sportsmanship. They asked him how could he be so excited about losing so bad.
"I got six in the team pool," he said.
He did pick up a couple of wins over Purdue, but had a hard time finding the Old Oaken Bucket after his first win in 1976.
"I said, 'Where's the Bucket?' and they said 'What Bucket?'" he said. "I said, 'The Old Oaken Bucket. Where is it?' They said, 'We don't know. You never win when you come here anyhow, so we didn't bring the Bucket. I said, 'You didn't bring the Bucket to the Old Oaken Bucket game.' The next (former Indiana coach) Phil Dickens and (former Purdue coach) Jack Mollenkompf found the Bucket. Then I slept with the Bucket."
Even though his won-loss record wasn't the best, he never had an NCAA investigator talk to a single player in his 17-year head coaching career.
After his coaching days ended, he got into television. He joined ESPN's College Gameday show. Along with co-hosts Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstriet, the program has developed quite a following when it comes to college campuses, a tradition that began 10 years ago.
"(ESPN) hit a brilliant idea," Corso said. "They were going to take the studio show to the 1993 Notre Dame-Florida State game here. We did the show live and there was electricity in the crowd and in the show. The ratings went up. The next year we did it four times and last year we did it 12 times. The reason why College Gameday is such a success is because of Florida State and Notre Dame in 1993. If it wasn't for that game, we would still be in the studio."
On a serious note, he talked about his days at Indiana when he would speak to various groups. After each engagement, the heads of the company told him that if he ever needed anything to call them.
When he was fired at Indiana, those people that he expected to be there weren't. The most important people that were there, he said, were those that lived under his roof.
"I learned a valuable lesson," Corso said. "Ninety-five percent of your true friends live under the same roof as you. And you know what? That was a tough lesson to learn."
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