I was almost as famous at Indiana for my television shows as I was my coaching. That's kind of embarrassing when you think about it.
— Lee Corso
I've always said that the games in November are the ones you remember.
You don't beat football teams. You outrecruit them.
I found out people want excitement. Fans don't want to see a lot of running. Even if a team wins it's boring. The total concept of the game must be entertainment.
To be a contender in the Big Ten a squad must have a solid player at every position.
There's a certain amount of pleasure in being able to create something and watch it grow.
I look at films every day. I study. I coach.
You got to have a gimmick in this got-to-have-a-gimmick world.
Coaching's not a job, it's a privilege.
Everybody asks me, 'Lee when did you know it was time to retire?' I said, 'when they quit asking me to coach.' After the Orlando Renegades, not many people were busting down my doors to coach, so why not do something else.
As bad as some of the teams in the NFL seem to be, they all have way more talent than any college.
Business is nothing more than relationships. It's the secret.
People say, 'Burt Reynolds is so good-looking.'... I used to set him up for bait. I'd send him to the student union, and he'd come back with a beautiful girl and an ugly one. But his ugly girls were better than anything I'd get on my own. With his looks and my car, we'd kill 'em in Tallahassee.
This job is like stealing. I travel first class in a nice plane. I have a driver waiting for me. I go in a room and have room service. I have a meeting. Then I go to the best game of the weekend and talk football - and they pay me.
I love Pistol Pete and the pistols. Man, I just love to do that. I put on that Pistol Pete head and shoot those guns, that's fun.
I absolutely loved working with the players at Navy. There are no better young men to coach than those you find at a service academy. I really enjoyed going to work every day because I loved being around those midshipmen.
I love college football. I've been involved with college football since 1953. That's a long time as a player, coach and 30 years in television.
Television was almost a natural for me.
And I love the Oregon Duck. He's my favorite mascot.
If you lose you better at least be entertaining while you do it or people will turn you off.
You don't beat football teams like Nebraska with a trick play. They're too well-coached, too well-disciplined.
You better not kick a field goal if you have a lousy defense.
Tough times were when I didn't have a job and nobody called me.
I've never had any regrets about anything. I live every day like it's gonna be my last one.
Bo Schembechler will go down in history as the greatest football coach. He knows the game, he works hard. And he's not a crook.
The bigger, stronger, faster and meaner my players are, the better I coach.
Basically I'm an entertainer and I use football as my vehicle.
I never even thought about it, but I think if I had to be known for something it would be that I tried to treat everyone right and nice.
In life, passion is the secret to success.
I had gotten a master's degree in administration supervision with it in mind that I would some day be a professor, then get a doctorate degree and move up and eventually be president of a university.
I have a soft spot for Iowa.
Don't ever underestimate Mike Gundy throwing the ball with his quarterbacks.
Remember one thing about ESPN: People can be critical of them sometimes for being a large corporation but nine years ago I had a stroke and I couldn't talk. That's the way I made my living. ESPN could've dumped me very easy, but they didn't. They helped me and presented me an opportunity to get back on the air.
The Florida Gator head is long and funny looking. It scrapes my nose. Every time I put that thing on I get scraped and blood comes down my face.
I represent college football and have been doing it for 26 years. It's a great thrill.
I recruit defensive players first. That's where most games are won. Then you've got to get the offensive linemen.
Pass a lot, use some reverses and toss in a gadget play once in a while for the TV audience. None of that detracts from winning.
The more games you win the warmer it gets in December.
Darryl Hill was a fantastic player.
But even the people who don't like my opinions must admit that I always have a reason behind what I say.
I don't have anything against long hair. I've known some crew-cut bums.
Some athletes aren't small, they're just short.
The one thing that saved me is that in 17 years of coaching I never had an NCAA investigator talk to one of my players. I lost games, but I lost the right way.
Humor is not a sign of weakness. In fact, humor can be your greatest asset in the face of tragedy.
People are doing too much e-mail. The basic thing is eyeball-to-eyeball. Business relationships are made to be personal. The more people get away from it, the more they are going to lose that personal relationship. That's what I learned - to develop personal relationships with people.
I wouldn't coach football now for nothing, and it's because of social media. That just bothers the heck out of me. People blast ya and you don't put their name down.
The thrill of winning or losing, or getting on the field and coaching on Saturday afternoons, that's all great. But it's the association with the players, and that's lifelong. That is the one thing you miss and you can't substitute for it.
I don't appreciate people taking shots and joking at my expense, when I don't do that to anybody else.
1958 was my first year as a defensive backfield coach at Florida State. I remember one thing about that game: It was so cold. It was freezing.
Bill Murray made the headlines by throwing me down and stomped me on the set with Clemson.
