One of the toughest challenges any boss will face is making a plan for an aging talent. It’s not a pleasant thing to do, particularly if the audience is still responding well to that person. You have more pressing challenges to address, right? Still, if you have someone on air who is in their 70s or 80s, it would be foolish not to have a plan for the day he or she comes to you and says “Boss, I just don’t have it in me anymore.” You also have to have a plan for the day that it’s become clear that talent’s fastball isn’t there anymore. Even if your senior talent isn’t ready, the station or network has to shuffle the deck somehow.
ESPN may have lucked into how this is going to work for College GameDay. Fans and those of us that write about the industry have spent the better part of the last five years wondering if it would be the last for Lee Corso. The guy is 85. He has overcome some serious health scares. Surely he doesn’t want to be on the road every week in the fall forever, right?
No one is going to tell you the Covid-19 Pandemic has been a good thing for anyone in the broadcast industry, but because of his age and because of those health scares, ESPN chose to keep Corso at home. The show still goes on the road. Rece, Kirk, Des, David, and Maria are still live on location each week, but Coach is at home in Orlando and joins the show via a video link.
It’s a set up that works really well. Honestly, watch an episode of College GameDay this season. Everyone else is talking about strategy and what games have been postponed or cancelled, and Corso is at home by his pool living his best damn life. This just might be the way the show needs to work if Corso isn’t ready to retire.
In recent years, Corso has been a little hard to watch at times. His speech is slurred from a stroke and there were times he just looked lost – not like he doesn’t know where he is, but like he can’t keep up with the pace of the show. Kirk Herbstreit, his friend and partner for almost a quarter century has done his best to help keep Corso on point and engaged, but it makes the banter seem stilted and unnatural.
At his home, it is clear that Lee Corso is comfortable. ESPN has done its part to add atmosphere. There are cutouts of his co-hosts, fans, and mascots all over Lee Corso’s backyard. He’ll interact with them at times coming in and out of commercial breaks. It is genuinely fun to watch.
Look, it doesn’t cure everything. Corso still speaks slower than he used to and he still slurs words, but he seems more engaged. He may still be a tick slower than everyone else on the dais, but cutting to his home tells you that this is something different. This is a new environment. The show happening in this Florida backyard doesn’t work then same as the one originating from inside of the football stadium at Louisville.
One day, Covid-19 will be just like any other virus. There will be a vaccine and a treatment plan and catching it won’t be so scary. That day may happen before the start of next football season. I am here to tell ESPN to not let that change what they are doing right now with Lee Corso.
Yes, the environment of GameDay will be very different when the fans come back. The signature moment of the show is at the very end when Coach makes his pick for the day’s biggest game by putting on his head gear and the home crowd reacts. You will still have that moment. It will just happen via video link. The crowd reaction will still be there. Keeping Corso as comfortable as possible during the broadcast ensures that we get those head gear picks for a few more years.
Lee Corso has absolutely earned the right to decide when his time on GameDay is over. We have seen plenty of radio stations around the country deal with talent that have earned that same right. The smart programmers are the ones who have a plan that gets the most out of those legacy talents until they are ready to call it quits.
That will likely lead to those talents being on air less than before. Maybe they go from a daily show to a weekly show or from a three hour show to a one hour show or from the driver’s seat to a reactor or even a third mic. Whatever the case, if you have a talent that the audience cannot imagine your show or station without, and that talent isn’t ready to ride off into the sunset, you have to put him or her in the best position to succeed.
ESPN has been toying with what that position is for Lee Corso for years. His camera time has been cut. He has been put in a role that is exclusively reacting to Herbstreit. The fact is, to be in your best position, you have to be comfortable. Lee Corso is clearly very comfortable at home, by his pool, putting silly hats on a cardboard Rece Davis.
GameDay, lean into that! It is the best way to ensure we keep getting head gear picks and “not so fast my friends” for another few years.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
