Kirk Herbstreit makes shock Lee Corso GameDay revelation days after emotional tribute to ESPN great

Kirk Herbstreit will enter his 30th year with ESPN’s College GameDay in 2026.

For almost his entire three-decade run on the popular show, Herbstreit sat alongside sports broadcasting icon Lee Corso.

Getty

The pair’s warm relationship was central to GameDay’s success, and they shared a close on-screen friendship right up until a 90-year-old Corso emotionally retired with his final appearance in Week 1 last year.

But had Herbstreit taken some advice during his very first year at the desk, things could have looked quite different each week.

Kirk Herbstreit was told to be ‘combative’ with Lee Corso on GameDay

Speaking ahead of the show’s imminent return on September 5, the analyst recalled memories of his start at ESPN, and revealed some early notes he got as a member of the GameDay crew.

Herbstreit’s father, Jim, was an assistant coach at Ohio State, and because of that coaching connection, he always had a natural respect for Corso.

Before he became a household name on ESPN, Corso was head coach at Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois.

Some on the GameDay set, though, weren’t too keen on their budding friendship.

“I remember about the middle of the year, a guy came up to me at ESPN who worked on GameDay,” Herbstreit recalled.

“(He said) ‘You’ll never last if you don’t figure out how to aggressively go after Corso,’ because that’s what Craig (James) had done.”

“I just didn’t think that I could do that. I was calling him Coach and Craig was calling him Lee.

“If I would disagree with him, I would disagree with him in a very respectful manner. Craig would be like, ‘You’re crazy, old man!’ in a fun kind of way. I could never do that.

Getty

“I remember them telling me, ‘You’ll never work if you don’t start getting aggressive with Corso.’ I was like, ‘Well, then it’s not going to work, because I’m not going to go that route.'”

Three decades on, and it’s fair to say Herbstreit made the correct call, and was right to trust his own instincts.

His close relationship with Corso was one of the main reasons many fans chose to tune in every Saturday.

Kirk Herbstreit pays emotional tribute to ‘greatest guy’ Lee Corso

In retirement, the GameDay icon continues to have a big impact on Herbstreit.

Speaking last week, Herbstreit reflected on their bond, and was left fighting back tears.

“I mean, he and I, kind of a father-son relationship, working together 29 years,” Herbstreit told Bussin’ With the Boys.

Getty

“Just salt-of-the-earth, greatest guy. He treated everybody on game day, from a first-year PA to the producer to the PA of the show, everyone the same.

“I could never be him, but I could learn by watching, probably like you, who looked up to somebody, whether it was either a coach or an older player. You don’t have to talk; you learn.”