Is Holy Cross the Notre Dame of FCS level football

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Remarkable from a coach you thought would be in over his head when he was hired 5 yrs ago.

I’m not saying it’s Coach Ches, but I’m not saying it’s not Coach Ray Bans.

We were closer to a national championship than was Notre Dame this season.

Notre Dame has had a sustained successful legacy, for the most part, except for a few periods, most notably the regimes of Weis, Faust, Davie and a few others. Their last national championship was under Coach Holtz.

HC had great success under Carter/Duffner but it was not sustained while Coach Gilmore had a few successful seasons during his long tenure. Coach Cheney brought HC football out of the doldrums and the team has advanced into the playoffs. However, HC hasn’t impacted the national stage yet like the perennial Dakota schools. Until that consistently happens, we can then say that we agree with the statement.

This is a ludicrous analogy...part of what makes ND ND is its national brand, the cultivation of subway alumni, its sustained success (at some level...ND detractors would say ND is not as successful as it makes itself out to be, but there still has generally been success throughout its history), its independence, the money it makes, the draw with the Shamrock Series, etc. These things simply cannot and do not exist at the FCS level.

It is also ridiculous to compare any FCS school, especially ours which downgraded the football program from once having repeatedly played national powers and appeared in bowl games, to 1-AA, a lower level of competition. Whether you like ND or not, they have consistently been a top 10 program (I know there were some lean years, so I do not mean in terms of standings, I just mean visibility and attention) for in excess of a century.

Also, while ND is a preeminent Catholic football school at the FBS level, it is also a preeminent football school at that level, regardless of religious affiliation. We will accept your premise for a moment that HC deserves more recognition than Fordham, Nova, and other catholic institutions and is, in fact, the preeminent Catholic football school at our level...that still does not put it on par at the FCS level with ND at the FBS level...we have what? 1 #1 ranking and this year was our furthest advance in the playoffs?

Lets just enjoy what we have...which is a currently great program with alot of hope for next year and a continued ascendency in FCS and stop trying to make us into something that we are not, and cannot be.

IMHO, the thread is ludicrous. Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Holy Cross is Holy Cross.

Both schools academically have their strengths. If I wanted to be an engineer, I would go to Notre Dame, not Holy Cross. If I wanted a great liberal arts education or to be a doctor, lawyer or business leader, I'd go to Holy Cross. Not to say you couldn't do well if you reversed those options but the stronger option is with the each school's strengths. 

As for football, which is the crux of the theme, the Fighting Irish are legendary - even when they are having off years. Crusader football succeeds in waves and ebbs. This isn't basketball we're talking about when with a good coach, the Crusaders could and did beat the Fighting Irish. 

I repeat one of my favorite Jack Donahue quotes when he was trying to get a series with ND. ND was insisting that all games had to be on their home court. Jack's response: "Oh, I'm sorry, you must have me confused with the football coach." In those days, HC was much better than ND who apparently thought that their football reputation carried over to basketball - it didn't and Jack correctly said "no thank you." My best guess is that Jack might have had a more "colorful" response than what I put here. 

Compelled to chime in here since I was at ND during much of the relevant period (64-68). Donahue coached HC from 65-72 with a 106-66 record. ND had two very bad years during this period, i.e., 64-65 and 71-72. Other than those two we made the NCAAs three times (2-3 record) and won 20 games four years in succession (including a 1967 win over #6 Houston with Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney). From 68 to 71 we had the great Austin Carr and Sid Catlett. As to whether "(i)n those days, HC was much better than ND", res ipsa loquitur.

Yes, HC doesn't have a school of engineering. But HC Softball just announced six incoming recruits, all from public schools and one will be majoring in Architectural Studies. So HC is branching out and diversifying.

Not going to get into an argument with my favorite ND alum even if he's using the first latin term I learned as a young insurance claims adjuster that unlike my fellow new adjusters, I knew from passing the NY State Latin regents and my altar boy days. 

FWIW, I was specifically talking about the time period probably '66-'69. We may not have gotten into the NCAAs but in part that was because we routinely went up and had to beat BC, PC, St. John's which were usually top 25 schools. Not to mention UCLA at MSG immediately after they lost to that Houston team (?) - when they beat UCLA, they were ranked #1 and pushed UCLA from #1 to #2 when we played them. 

Might be my purple glasses but I will stand by my original post. I'd take our Ed Siudut, Ron Teixeira, Keith Hochstein, Stazinski and Murray team against most anyone. Certainly they were good enough for the Notre Dame people not to think it was beneath them to travel to Worcester. That's something I am sure ndgrad would agree with. 

Agree with sader 1970 100%. Those were great HC hoop teams which I followed closely with my Worcester newspaper subscription while at ND and, later, aboard the USS Norris.
Also agree with the posters who think the football comparisons are ridiculous.

Notre Dame is the Holy Cross of FBS football.