With ESPN’s College GameDay going to Bloomington, Indiana for just the second time ever and the first time since 2017 this week, a lot of the discussion there was about panelist Lee Corso. Corso’s longest head coaching stint was with the Hoosiers, who he led from 1973-82. And Saturday’s show was very much about him.
The tributes to Corso at Saturday’s show on the Indiana campus (which came ahead of the 7-0 Hoosiers’ clash with Washington) started with putting him on top of a double-decker bus, recalling the way he and his players arrived at Memorial Stadium ahead of his first game in charge. Oh, and this time, he was with members of Indiana’s 1979 Holiday Bowl-winning team (in town for a reunion to celebrate their 45th anniversary). That was the most successful team during his tenure there, and was the first Hoosiers’ team to ever win a bowl game (over an unbeaten BYU squad, no less):
And Corso was even in a sweater like the one he wore back in the day:
Many of those players from the 1979 team were key to a later GameDay feature that had footage of them speaking about his impact at a lunch:
But it wasn’t just the former players and coaches Corso left a mark on. Current coach Curt Cignetti shared an incredible story about a letter Corso wrote his father when Cignetti was in high school:
“My dad overcame cancer my senior year of high school. He was given his last rites twice. Lee sent a holy cross in the letter that he said had special healing powers, and that sat on top of his dresser the whole time, from surgery through his recovery. And he beat cancer and lived 43 more years. So Coach Corso’s always really had a special place in the Cignetti family.”
Later in the show, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thompson declared it “Coach Lee Corso Day”:
And throughout the show, both old and young Indiana fans showed their appreciation for Corso:
Unsurprisingly, Corso did indeed pick the Hoosiers, and donned a 1979 Holiday Bowl hat to do so:
Corso also got a “Beat Purdue!” in there. That’s a specific and oft-used reference to that famed in-state “Old Oaken Bucket” rivalry that dates back to 1891. And it’s one Corso has long embraced, including with a 13-9 win over the Boilermakers in his final game as the Hoosiers’ coach in 1982, and with another win in 1980 that featured a memorable late touchdown from his son Steve . And while Indiana doesn’t play Purdue until Nov. 30, that one’s clearly already on the minds for many, including Corso. So it was neat to see him work that in on this broadcast.
It’s been a challenging year health-wise for the 89-year-old Corso, with him missing GameDay at Cal and Oregon and described as “under the weather” in those circumstances. His colleagues have spoken about how much he’s been missed , and his return to set for GameDay from Texas last week was widely celebrated. And it’s particularly good that he was able to make it out for such a special GameDay broadcast at his old school, and one that was so full of tributes to him.
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