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Lee Corso is going viral after College Football Playoff National Championship

The former Indiana coach is seeing major social media love after his old school shocked the world.
Joe Cox|
Legendary college football broadcaster Lee Corso is getting plenty of shout-outs after the school he once coached won a shocking national title.
Legendary college football broadcaster Lee Corso is getting plenty of shout-outs after the school he once coached won a shocking national title. | Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Indiana Hoosiers

After decades of college football top-heaviness, perennial Big Ten doormat Indiana couldn't actually win a national title, much less complete a 16-0 season, could it? As their former coach turned legendary broadcaster Lee Corso might say, not so fast. Indiana, a preseason 100-1 championship underdog has competed a shocking and triumphant season and much of the Internet is delivering some love to Corso.

Lee Corso at IU

Corso came to Indiana after reviving a lifeless Louisville program in his head coaching debut. Corso took the Indiana job ahead of the 1973 season. To say that his task was tall would be an understatement. In his first two years, Indiana was a combined 3-19. But by 1976, Corso had made the Hoosiers respectable, and then even made them good.

The highwater mark of his tenure came in 1979, when Indiana went 8-4, including a win in the Holiday Bowl. Corso was never afraid to manufacture attention-- including a game in that 1976 season when he allegedly called time out after Indiana jumped to a lead against Ohio State to take a team photograph in front of the scoreboard. Sure, the Hoosiers lost that game 47-7, but Corso made Indiana football entertaining.

Corso was fired after the 1982 season, with a career 41-68-2 mark at Indiana. After a year at Northern Illinois and another coaching in the USFL, he found his true calling working for ESPN. Corso was the heart and soul of College Game Day for nearly four decades and his mascot-head-wearing days will not be soon forgotten. His retirement opened the 2025-2026 season, and his former team winning it all closes the season.

College football shouts out Corso

Given the back story, it's unsurprising that plenty of social media love came in for Corso after Indiana's championship win.

Corso's longtime colleague, Kirk Herbstreit, joined the party, bringing up his good friend and broadcasting colleague while discussing Indiana's accomplishments.

Published
Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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