Lee Corso retirement: Stephen A. Smith compares College GameDay icon to other ESPN legends

The news that Lee Corso will retire during the 2025 season broke on Thursday morning. With it, the outpouring of support came flowing in from virtually every corner.

Stephen A. Smith took some time on a segment of ESPN’s First Take to celebrate the College GameDay legend. There’s a lot of mutual respect there.

“Thank you. Thank you for the great work over the years, the entertainment over the work,” Smith said. “One of the guys, one of the main guys that contributed to that E in ESPN. This is the Entertainment Sports Programming Network. He certainly has entertained us all these years.”

Corso has done just that. His headgear picks have become legendary, as the show host tabbed his projected winner for the marquee games in college football. Always, it seemed like, there was a little bit of extra flair to it. Extra fun.

“College GameDay is one of the best shows on television, as has been the case for many, many years,” Smith said. “The addition of Pat McAfee, as far as I’m concerned, only elevated that. Kirk Herbstreit is a staple. Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, I mean they’re absolutely phenomenal and they’ve given us nothing but joy all these years, and this man has been at the forefront of it all for the last 38 years or so.”

Corso has indeed had a tremendous run. And it’ll be awesome to see the sports world send him out the right way on Aug. 30, his last appearance on the show.

ESPN has already announced it will have additional programming dedicated to Corso throughout that week. It’ll be a treat for fans. But for those closest to him, losing Lee Corso on the airwaves is a blow. They’ll take some indelible memories from his time on the main stage, though.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to call him a colleague,” Smith said. “But when we think about this network and all that we’ve accomplished and us being a worldwide leader, it’s guys like him. It’s guys like Dickie V, it’s guys like Boomer, Chris Berman and others. We stand on their shoulders. The late great Stuart Scott, John Saunders and others. We stand on their shoulders, and Lee Corso was clearly one of those individuals.

“People like myself and others, no matter how far this network continues to go, how much forward we continue to thrive, in the end we have them to thank. Because if it wasn’t for their marvelous, wonderful work throughout these decades, we wouldn’t be where we are today as a network and as individuals who have thrived in this business representing this network.”

So Stephen A. Smith issued a final farewell of sorts to Lee Corso, on the day of his announcement. He’ll be missed.

“I’m incredibly grateful and I wish him nothing but the best,” Smith said. “He’s absolutely wonderful and he’s going to be missed. But thank you. We all appreciate what you’ve done for us. We truly do.”