Who will replace Lee Corso? Explaining ESPN's plans for 'College GameDay' after Coach's retirement

It’s fair to say that “College GameDay” won’t be the same without Lee Corso.

The former college football head coach has been on ESPN’s top Saturday pregame show for decades, entertaining fans across the country with his humor and “headgear picks.” As the 90-year-old Corso heads into retirement, “College GameDay” will, of course, go on as arguably the top program that leads into college football Saturdays. But just how different will the show look without Corso?

Given Corso’s involvement with “College GameDay” since it was created, it’s unavoidable that there will be a void left after he soon steps away from the show. How will ESPN fill that void?

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Here’s what to know about whether or not ESPN will replace Corso on “College GameDay” following his retirement.

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How long has Lee Corso been on ‘College GameDay’?

Lee Corso has been on the “College GameDay” crew since the show’s inception in 1987. That means that with his 2025 retirement, Corso will have spent 38 years, or just over 40 percent of his life, as an analyst with ESPN.

Originally, “College GameDay” did not travel across the country to various campuses, but that changed in 1993. Since 1996, Corso has been doing his famous mascot “headgear picks.”

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Who will replace Lee Corso on ‘College GameDay’?

Corso’s 38-year run on “College GameDay” comes to an end in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season, with his final broadcast being at Texas vs. Ohio State in Columbus. Will ESPN replace him in the future?

For the long-term, it remains to be seen if the network will add a new analyst to the crew to “replace” Corso, but there are no plans in motion for that to happen during the 2025 season. One thing is for certain: ESPN will not be continuing Corso’s “headgear pick” tradition, keeping that reserved for the former coach only.

According to The Spun, legendary coach Nick Saban, one of the newer additions to the “College GameDay” crew, said during an interview on “The Rick Burgess Show” that he doesn’t want himself or anyone else to take on the headgear pick tradition.

“I hope not … But that’s probably not my decision,” Saban reportedly said during the interview.

Saban wasn’t the only crew member to indicate that Corso’s famous tradition won’t be continuing without him. Host Rece Davis also recently told CNN that he’d “have to tackle anybody that tries to do a headgear pick, other than Lee Corso.”

“That, to me, is [Corso’s] signature moment, and it should stay with him, in my judgment,” Davis said. “And I will fight very hard not to be overruled or vetoed on that. Because many people tell me that it’s something that they look forward to every week. And I think that is his and his alone.”

Rece Davis on the future of the headgear pick: “I think I’m going to have to tackle anybody that tries to do a headgear pick … that to me is his signature moment and it should stay with him.” https://t.co/Khp2KYPf0x pic.twitter.com/YFza0Hh3FM

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 18, 2025

The “headgear” pick seems to rightfully be leaving the show alongside Corso. And there are also currently no known plans to add a new analyst to the show; in May, The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Richard Deitsch, wrote that he doesn’t “see any replacement for Lee Corso because ESPN has already replaced him” in Saban, who joined the crew in 2024.

Saban’s coaching expertise is similar to Corso’s for the “College GameDay” crew, and the former Alabama coach is already part of the team for ESPN. In some ways, Saban can be considered a replacement for Corso, but an outside addition to the show shouldn’t be expected in 2025.

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‘College GameDay’ 2025 crew

Lee Corso is set to appear on just one “College GameDay” broadcast in 2025, when ESPN bids farewell to the legendary analyst for its Week 1 show. 

Outside of Corso, the names that will appear on “College GameDay” for the 2025 season are almost all of the same names as the 2024 season, headlined by host Rece Davis and analysts Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, and Nick Saban.

Here’s the full 2025 “College GameDay” crew, per ESPN:

• Host: Rece Davis
• Analyst: Kirk Herbstreit
• Analyst: Desmond Howard
• Analyst: Nick Saban
• Insider: Pete Thamel
• Reporter: Jen Lada
• Reporter: Jess Sims
• Betting Analyst: ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin