Kirk Herbstreit explains how Lee Corso grew into a father-like role for him

ESPN College GameDay is a staple in the lives of college football fans across the country. Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso are two of the most well-known faces on the GameDay show. While the two obviously have plenty of experience working together on the GameDay set, the two have a special bond off set as well.

The College GameDay crew was not able to be together in person last season due to COVID-19, but the cast is now back to its normal schedule this year.

Herbstreit: Corso is like a second father to me

On Friday, Herbstreit joined The Dave Pasch Podcast, where he was asked about whether or not Corso is like a father figure to him. Herbstreit said that Corso definitely is, and he also went in depth on the background as to how that came to be true.

“Yeah, he is (like a second father),” Herbstreit said of Corso. “He wasn’t at first because he was just funny. I would get the biggest kick out of him with his one liners. He would say stuff that nobody else would say, and he could get away with it because he’s Lee Corso. Could not get enough of him. And then I got married, I had kids, my kids were born prematurely, they were in the NICU for eight weeks. I started to go through real, grown-up stuff.

“My dad, as much as he was my hero, he didn’t really listen. So what happened over time was, I just shut down talking to him about anything of real meaning. Not because I didn’t want to, but because it was so painful that the one person I wanted to share things with, he didn’t listen. If I started to tell him what was happening, he just wouldn’t hear it.”

When Herbstreit came to Corso with questions or concerns, whether it be football or life, Corso always had an answer. Herbstreit said that he values talking to people older than him for advice, so having Corso’s guidance in some important moments was very important to him.

“So, Lee, I would start to talk to him about it,” Herbstreit said. “And I found out, ‘holy cow he’s listening!’ And then another conversation and another, and you start talking about real things. I’m a big guy that believes in talking to people that are older than me because of their wisdom and their own life experiences. So, here I am talking and opening up my heart to him, and he’s listening. And then like Yoda from Star Wars, he would kind of pat me on the hand and give me a sentence after I just said 20 minutes of my concerns. He would just pat me on the hand and say, ‘here’s the answer. Boom.’ And I’m like, ‘that’s it? I’m worrying about all of this stuff for nothing?’ And he is just like, ‘trust me.’”