College GameDay icon Lee Corso gave his final sendoff in Week 1 when Ohio State took on Texas. But with Indiana, the team he once coached, in its first-ever national title game, many are wondering if Corso will come out of retirement to make one final pick.
Unfortunately, those fans may be disappointed.
According to multiple reports, while Corso is "thrilled" that his Hoosiers are in the National Championship Game, he intends to watch the game from home.
"Talked to Coach Corso this morning & he is obviously THRILLED about the Hoosiers’ trip to the National Championship Game. Will watch from his Florida home. He loves Fernando Mendoza. Said IU’s come a long way since their first Bowl win - the Holiday Bowl he coached in 1979," ESPN's Jen Lada reported this past weekend.
Fans expressed hope that Corso might change his mind at some point this week since the game is in his home state of Florida. But Connor O'Gara of Saturday Down South confirmed Corso's decision to stay at home..
"For those wondering: [Chris Fallica] told me that Lee Corso is unfortunately not expected to make the trip down to Miami to watch his former team in the national championship.** **unless Corso accepts my offer to drive 15 minutes from my house and pick him up on Monday," O'Gara wrote on Wednesday.
Corso and the Hoosiers
Decades before he was one of the faces of ESPN's College GameDay, Corso was the head coach at Indiana. Though his record may not look impressive to most fans, by Indiana standards his 41 wins in 10 years ranks him among the best in the team's largely disappointing history.
Corso's greatest achievement came in the 1979 season, when he led the team to a Holiday Bowl win over unbeaten BYU for the first bowl win in school history. In the 45 years that followed, the Hoosiers would win only two more bowl games.
To see Indiana come this far so many years later has to be rewarding to a man who gave the sport his all.