Lee Corso’s college mascot bit is comedy gold for ESPN
It could be called the “Most Entertaining Minute on Television” — and, for college football fans, it’s definitely appointment TV.
At 11:59 a.m. Saturday, approximately 1.8 million viewers will tune in to watch the final minute of ESPN’s “College GameDay” to see if the show’s analyst, Coach Lee Corso, will pick the West Virginia Mountaineers or the TCU Horned Frogs to win their matchup.
The phenomenon, known as “Headgear” — celebrating its 300th edition Saturday — was born on Oct. 5, 1996, when, during the pick segment at the end of the show (which airs from 9 a.m. to noon), Corso donned Ohio State’s mascot head, Brutus the Buckeye, to illustrate he was picking Ohio State to win its game.
“We thought it would be a one-time thing. But the reaction was so overwhelming,” says analyst Kirk Herbstreit, whose wife, Allison — a former Ohio State cheerleader — procured the inaugural head.
‘We thought it would be a one-time thing. But the reaction was so overwhelming.’
Even if Herbstreit thought it might have been one and done for headgear, Corso knew he was on to something.
“As soon as I did it, I had an idea [it was going to be big] because the crowd went wild, the truck went wild and the people at ESPN loved it,” he says. “And I thought, ‘I think I’ve got a shtick here, I’ll stay with it.’ I never dreamed it would be 300.”
While “Headgear” is now shared across many platforms of social media, that obviously wasn’t possible when it premiered 21 years ago.
“If it had been around then, it would have gone instantly viral,” says Chris Fowler, who hosted “College GameDay” from 1990 to 2014.
So what makes a grown man wearing an oversized mascot head so appealing? “The man inside the mascot head is the essential part of it. That’s because he’s so authentic,” says Fowler. “You put a head on somebody else and it’s not funny. You put it on [Corso] and it becomes funny.”
Corso’s record currently stands at 196 wins and 103 losses.
According to Lee Fitting, ESPN’s VP of production, college sports — who previously produced “College GameDay” — Corso reminds his colleagues often that it’s not the Xs and Os that people are tuning in for: it’s the entertainment factor.
“Coach always says, ‘Remember sweetheart, we’re in the entertainment business and college football is our vehicle,’” Fitting says. “‘​We’re not in the college football business.​’​ We joke around that the other two hours and 59 minutes of the show are meaningless.”
Since Fitting has been associated with “College GameDay,” the show has won seven Sports Emmy Awards (four consecutively) for Outstanding Weekly Studio Show.
“It’s so rare in TV and in sports TV that you get TV gold and Coach’s headgear is TV gold at its best,” says Fitting. “It’s such a natural fun moment. Most shows would die to have something like that to end their show. Coach and his headgear are ‘College GameDay.’ Period.”
Getting his ‘Headgear’ together
“Headgear” is a week-long production.
Corso calls Fitting every Monday morning like clockwork to discuss his ideas for headgear. “It’s the best 15 minutes of my week,” says Fitting.
Corso tweaks the script and decides if he needs props — and then, by Saturday, it all comes together.
The co-hosts do not know who Corso is picking — or what he’ll be doing. “We call it the skit. It’s like, ‘What does LC have for the skit?’” says Herbstreit. “He has so much fun with that. He’s like a 7-year-old kid. He’s 82, he’s done it a million times, you’d think it would get old but he looks forward to it so much that I want to be a part of his enjoyment.”
If the mascot has guns, Corso is taught how to use them. The crew quadruple-checks that the guns are loaded with blanks, which doesn’t stop them from being exceedingly loud. Herbstreit compares the firing of the guns to a firecracker going off next to your ear.
There have been 56 different heads. Including lions, tigers and bears, a founding father and a past president.
Corso is a perfect 17-for-17 when picking the USC Trojans, and what started out with a simple Trojan helmet has expanded to include body armor and a sword. The skit usually concludes with Corso and Herbstreit jokingly stabbing at each other with swords.
There have been many live animals used as part of the skit, including dogs, gators, a gamecock and even a bison named Corso.
North Dakota State named their baby bison mascot after Corso, who’s 2-for-2 when picking the Bison at home in Fargo.
One of Corso’s favorite mascots is the Oregon Duck. “The Duck is the San Diego chicken of football mascots. He is the funniest guy,” says Corso. The Duck ranks fifth on Corso’s all-time headgear list and Coach is 13 and 5 when picking Oregon.
And one of the country’s wealthiest men is a fan of “Headgear.”
At the the National Championship game in 2015 — between Ohio State and Oregon — Ed Bass was given the privilege of handing Corso the headgear. “I will always remember, here was this billionaire who appreciated that moment and what it meant to fans so much,” says Rece Davis, current host of “College GameDay.” “He wasn’t on camera. Nobody knew it was him. He was the guy who handed Coach the headgear from underneath the set and it was really cool.”
“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Rece remembers Bass saying.