In the midst of Rose Bowl media day, The Daily Illini caught up with former Indiana football coach and ESPN college football personality Lee Corso. Topics of discussion include the transition from coaching to television, the intricacies of wearing mascot headgear and stories from classic match-ups with Illinois.

DI: As a coach, do you have any fond memories of coaching against Illinois?

LC: Yeah, in my first game against Illinois. I don’t know if I remember the story. Bob Blackman was the coach, and I promised the people at Indiana that I’d have the best looking pre-game warm up and the best uniforms they’d ever had, so come to the game. So there was 50,000 people there, and I didn’t show up. We didn’t show up for the pre-game. Bob Blackman’s walking around and the Illinois team is there. Have you ever seen this? A team not show up for the pre-game? Nothing. So there’s nobody there from Indiana. Indiana doesn’t show up, and everybody thinks we’re gonna forfeit. But I had planned to work out someplace and I brought them in on a red, English, double-decker bus. And there were the fire engines. I don’t know if you ever heard this story, ask them, I brought them in right in there and brought ’em out to the middle of the field for the coin toss. And the team was going crazy, the fans were going crazy, we flipped, got the ball, scored and it’s seven-nothing. And then reality set in, they beat me 28-14. But I did get the jump on them. That was one of my favorite things.

Daily Illini: How was it making the transition for you from coach to journalist?

Lee Corso: Well, they said to me, ‘Coach, when did you know it’s time to retire?’ For me it was easy, they quit asking me to coach. And I didn’t have a job. So I didn’t have a problem from coaching to television.

DI: Was it really easy for you to do?

LC: Well, first of all it was vertical integration. And vertical integration is when you go from one job to another that you can use everything you did in the first job. And now we’re talking about this and the Rose Bowl and about defense, and I did all of that. It was easy for me to just take the game and coach to television, and I never wanted to get back in coaching. That’s the biggest problem the coaches have: they can’t find that rush or adrenaline from anything but coaching. and when they don’t find that they get back in coaching. Well, I decided that I was not going to get back in coaching, and so therefore I’ve been able to say whatever I want to say about anybody and not worry about someday coaching against them again. And that’s what happens. If you notice all the coaches. a lot of them don’t make it because they’re leery to say something about a guy that he can use against him sometime. I never want to get back into coaching.

DI: Where do you get all of the mascot headgear?

LC: I get it from the sports information director. And I call them about a week in advance of the game. I call them on Wednesday and I tell them who I’m gonna pick and he arranges with the head cheerleader, and the head cheerleader is in charge of the mascot and they get the head for me. There’s only been one time (I didn’t get the headgear. The Auburn Tiger) has some kind of special woo-woo-woo (spins around for a 360) rule that nobody can put the Auburn Tiger head on.

DI: So you have the pick in your mind early in the week, but have you ever gotten headgear from both schools?

LC: No, well, I did for fun just one time. When Williams played Amherst, I couldn’t help it. I took Lord Jeff and the Purple Cows. I said to myself, ‘I cannot physically ever get this thing. I’ve got to do this.’ So, I put the Lord Jeff and purple cow together, and I said, ‘Which one was it? I can’t stand it. The Lord Jeff’s alright!’ (Corso makes an indescribable negative noise). I threw it away and I put the purple cow on. That’s the only time I’ve ever had two.

DI: What’s your favorite part about doing this?

LC: I think it’s the passion of college football. There’s nothing like the passion of college football and the fans, and that sometimes can go against you ’cause I sometimes have the tendency to upset people. So the passion, you can’t buy that anywhere so it’s just wonderful.

DI: What’s the best atmosphere in college football?

LC: Nebraska, because they respect the way the game of football should be played. Not only by their own team, but by their opponents. They really treat the opponents with respect and dignity and I like that.