December 1982: It was a Tuesday when the Indiana Hoosiers’ then-HC, Lee Corso, was on a recruiting trip. He still had three years on his contract, but that day, as he listened to the radio, he learned he had been fired. Make no mistake, university president John Ryan wanted to keep the coach, and he had done so previously by awarding Corso a five-year contract, despite a poor early season. But that Tuesday, Ryan lost a power struggle with the athletic director, Ralph Floyd.

Floyd wanted Corso gone after fan attendance fell; the coach also had just two winning seasons in ten years. However, Corso didn’t take it personally. He simply couldn’t. One of his sons had graduated from there, and another one was hopeful he would get into the university to follow his passion for law. Plus, Corso loved Bloomington because of friends and family. So, his loyalty to the Hoosiers stood strong despite being discharged. Ask Rod Woodson all about it.

The former Steelers player was on The Rich Eisen Show, where he spilled the beans. “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.”

Corso was 47 when the incident took place. Before Indiana, he had spent four years as the head coach of Louisville. And so, when the athletic director of Louisville, Bill Olsen, got to know about the firing, he was ready to make Corso an offer: a tailor-made job, just for him. The two spoke about it, but Corso wasn’t rushing into a decision.

In fact, by January 1983, when everyone was wondering what Corso would do, he went on to follow what Woody Hayes, a former Ohio State football coach, had advised him: not to close any options. And so, Corso left the door open, sat back for a while before arriving at a decision. He didn’t coach that year.

He took up a coaching offer at Northern Illinois in 1984, and the next year, he left the college game behind to coach the Orlando Renegades. He pivoted once again in 1987 after he joined ESPN as a college football analyst. Soon, he got his main role after he joined the cast of the Saturday program, ‘College GameDay’—something that he has been a part of for 38 seasons.

Now 90 years old, Corso has decided to step back from the role. His final ‘GameDay’ appearance will be on August 30 when the No. 1 Texas will battle the No. 2 Ohio State. ESPN will air a one-hour TV special in honor of Corso.