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<p>I’m not disputing any of that - or even talking about it. My point is that no matter how you care to measure it, Holy Cross is not older than all the Ivy League schools - not by actual founding date, not by “pedigree,” and not even by the most convoluted sophistry.</p>
<p>I think it would be really cool if Holy Cross joined the Ivy League (despite being far less ‘selective’, I think it would fit in nicely: big beautiful campus, amazing classics department, a certain New England quality that cannot be defined or replicated… and its acceptance rate would plummet very quickly anyway), but the idea just doesn’t sound realistic. The invitation in question was either extended a very long time ago or never happened.</p>
<p>BTW, Rutgers was never invited to be a founding member of the Ivy League either (another frequently resurfacing urban legend).</p>
<p>^^–^^</p>
<p>If you like to separate legends and myths from facts, you might be entertained by the story that Colgate was actually favored over a current Ivy League member.</p>
<p>^^^ Would that be over another Upstate NY college whose name will go unmentioned? If so, I can certainly see the rationale for having Colgate instead…it’s older, has comparable academics, brighter smiles, etc., etc.</p>
<p>What about Union College, I wonder if it was ever considered for the Ivy League?.. hmm, probably not due to its size.</p>
<h2>'“t’s just an athletic conference.”</h2>
<pre><code> “Just” is somewhat misleading. There are like-minded admissions and aid among other factors that you don’t see in other D1 conferences.
Simply because HC has talked about riding themselves of athletic scholarships doesn’t mean they are necessarily compatible with the Ivy League.
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<p>The Big East was formed as a basketball conference. It did not add football until years later when Penn State was invited to join the Big 10. Yes, Holy Cross was invited before BC.</p>
<p>
[Once</a> Upon a Time, Holy Cross Was King of Hoops Sportslifer’s Weblog](<a href=“http://sportslifer.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/03/14/once-upon-a-time-holy-cross-was-king-of-hoops/]Once”>Holy Cross Was Once King of Hoops | SportsLifer's Weblog)</p>
<p>Temple was never in the Big East basketball conference; only as an associate football member.</p>
<p>Sports update-Holy Cross 11 Harvard 6 in baseball game played today at Harvard. The non-scholarship HC baseball team beat UMass easily earlier this week, beat Boston College, and tied Big East member UConn last week. As others have pointed out HC has played Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown since the 1890’s-amazing for a Catholic school.Holy Cross has a storied athletic tradition for a small, selective LAC- Basketball 1 NCAA championship and 1 NIT trophy, Baseball 1 NCAA championship, Football-Orange Bowl appearance, Hockey-1 of the biggest upsets over Minnesota in NCAA’s. Holy Cross would be a great choice if the Ivy League ever expanded.</p>
<p>A bit off-thread, but the whole idea of an athletic conferece for “powerhouse” eastern colleges has an interesting history.</p>
<p>Remember the ECAC? It was very loose association of colleges on the eastern seaboard but it did not include football. By the late 1970s The only remaining big time college football programs in the northeast were Penn State, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, all independents for football. Coach Paterno of PSU had been essentially begging his rivals to form a big eastern football conference for years. Meanwhile, the NCAA gave an ultimatum to ECAC basketball powers like St. John’s. The NCAA didn’t like the casual nature of the ECAC. Thus, in the late 1970s the Big East Conference (mostly basketball) was born, without Penn State. Now jump ahead about 25 years. The Big East football schools are persistently unhappy with the situation and fear losing the league’s BCS afilliation. And then the loss of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College exacerbates an already an unsteady relationship among the remaining league members.</p>