Tim Brando's Incredible Story About Lee Corso's College GameDay Audition

Tim Brando still remembers the day Lee Corso talked his way into one of the most iconic jobs in sports television — right in the middle of his own audition.

Broadcasting legend Tim Brando came on the Common Fan Podcast this week. He had plenty to say about the Huskers’ upcoming season, the partnership between Dana Holgorsen and Dylan Raiola, the outlook in the Big Ten, and much more. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the episode, you can find it here.

Brando’s been in the business for 40 years, including a stop at ESPN in the early days of the network. Among his many accomplishments, he was the very first host of College GameDay. With Lee Corso set to retire this year, we asked him about his old friend, and the story he shared did not disappoint. (NOTE: Some quotes have been lightly edited for purposes of clarity).

“I do go back to his audition at ESPN for the original College GameDay. And he auditioned with (longtime college coach) Pepper Rodgers. They did it simultaneously. I'm working with Beano Cook, and we're going to audition Pepper and Lee Corso to see who the other guy would be.”

Brando shared how he was hesitant to take the reins of the new show because he preferred to be doing play-by-play.

“I move up there (to Connecticut), and I thought I was going to do games, and they tell me, no, you're going to be the host of College GameDay. And I was like, whoa, OK, what's this? And when they told me, I was excited about it, yeah, but a little disappointed because you guys know me. I always wanted to call games, not necessarily be in a sterile studio in Bristol, Connecticut. But it was anything but sterile with Lee in it.”

According to Brando, Corso had a clear vision from early on about what College GameDay could become.

“Coaches that come into television are only there for a short time because they've got this sickness, okay? Coaching is a sickness. It's a disease that captures some guys and they can't get it out of their system. Lee had already coached not only at Northern Illinois for a year; a long period of time, obviously, at Indiana; 10 years at Louisville, where he took them to bowl games. He had coached at basketball schools and had success, but his record was sub-.500 as a head football coach. So I knew him, and I knew he'd be good on television, but I didn't think he would want to stay.”

Brando thought Corso would view College GameDay as a placeholder before getting his next coaching job. Corso had other ideas.

“But the day that we were auditioning him, he told me not only was he in, but he was in to stay, that this was going to be his vehicle. He was like, ‘Timmy B, you're smooth and error-free, sweetheart.’ He said, ‘Sweetheart, sweetheart. I'm here for the duration, okay?’ He said, ‘This show is going to be the trigger for your career and my career, okay? He said, ‘I'm going to be the Dick Vitale of college football. Football doesn't have one. And this show is going to be my vehicle.’”

Brando also shared a hilarious anecdote about Corso angling for the GameDay job by trying to convince Pepper Rodgers, who was his main competition, that it wasn’t a good fit.

“And the whole time, because Pepper Rogers was a charismatic guy, too; great storyteller, tremendous speaker. He was one of those Washington Speakers Bureau, you know, $20,000, $25,000-a-night guys that were on the speaking circuit once he got out of coaching. So those two had both impressed producers at ESPN enough to get the audition. And the whole time, Lee knowing that Pepper had had a great career at Georgia Tech, at UCLA, had a better winning percentage, clearly, than Lee, he thought he was the underdog. So the whole time they were auditioning, the two of them, when the cameras were off, and we weren't taping anything, Lee would be in Pepper's ear going, ‘Hey, Pepper, I didn't know, but they're talking to me about this might be an every week thing. Are you going to have enough time to come up here and do this every week? I mean, you've got all these speeches to do. I mean, I don't know. You'd be taking a pay cut, wouldn't you? You really don't want to do this, do you?’ And Pepper's like, ‘I really hadn't thought about that.’ He (Lee) is conning this guy into not wanting the job while he's auditioning for the job. It just tells you what a salesman Lee was all the time in the back of his head.”

It was classic Corso — equal parts charm, confidence, and showmanship.

“He's going, ‘This is going to be my vehicle. I'm going to be the crown prince of college football. I'm going to be the next Dickie V.’ So he was working an angle on Pepper Rodgers, God rest his soul, while they were auditioning the two of them.”

While Corso was a charismatic salesman, he also had a hard-earned understanding of the game that not only allowed him to be effective on TV, but also brought credibility to the fledgling show.

“Lee Corso knew the game and could break down a game, whether he was calling the game or in the studio…He was the guy that was going to do the funny things and was going to say outlandish things, but if you listened closely enough, you'd know that this guy still understood college football in a very large way. He provided so much credibility for us in those early days. And not many guys that were that age then, that were in coaching, could go out and call a game and break down a replay as well as he could. And then come into the studio, speak in soundbites and be memorable. Lee was one of the most extraordinarily talented broadcasters that came from coaching. Ever.”

Let us know what you think, Common Fans. We’d love to hear any favorite College GameDay or Lee Corso stories. Send us an email at commonfangbr@gmail.com or find us on YouTube.

As always, GBR for Life.

More from Nebraska on SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.