History Film / TheMightyMacs

''The Mighty Macs'' is a 2009[[note]]It was filmed in 2007, premiered in 2009 and went into wide release in 2011[[/note]] SportsStory {{Drama}}, written and directed by Tim Chambers, BasedOnATrueStory (though with a few liberties taken).

* SuperCoach: Cathy Rush, who emphasizes basketball fundamentals, conditioning and teamwork and leads her RagtagBunchOfMisfits from a tiny Catholic college to the national championship.

Described as ''Film/{{Hoosiers}}'' meets ''Film/SisterAct'', the film is still a fairly accurate account of the rise of Immaculata, which became a dominant force in early women's college basketball, winning three national championships under Rush. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, and the championship teams were inducted as a unit into the Naismith Hall in 2019.

Described as ''Film/{{Hoosiers}}'' meets ''Film/SisterAct'', the film is still a fairly accurate account of the rise of Immaculata, which became a dominant force in early women's college basketball, winning three national championships under Rush, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

* ShownTheirWork: The period detail from TheSeventies (fashion, furniture) is impressively accurate. The depiction of women's college basketball from that era is well-researched--it really was quite a ragtag game, usually played in tiny women's gyms, and as Cathy mentions, the game had only recently changed from a six-on-six sport with limitations on dribbling and shooting, to a five-on-five sport more in-line with the mens' game (though the women had adopted a shot clock, which the men wouldn't do for another 15 years). Those blue belted dress uniforms were also TruthInTelevision. Also, various biographical details that Cathy mentions were completely true. She was a star player in high school, only to have the school drop varsity sports for girls before her senior year. She was cut from her college team after two years (when the school hired a new coach; in both cases, Rush took up gymnastics instead). And she really is Baptist, instead of Catholic.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film gets the basics of the RealLife story correct, but also adds a lot of elements to spice up the narrative. Sister Sunday is completely fictional (Rush didn't actually have an assistant). The players in the film are [[CompositeCharacter Composite Characters]] based on the real players (Trish Sharkey is a fictionalized version of Theresa Shank Grentz, who went on to win a national championship as a coach at Rutgers). The West Chester coach (Carol Eckard) wasn't really an {{Archenemy}} for Rush, as portrayed here. Unlike Mother St. John, who's indifferent to sports, the real university president who hired Rush (Sister Mary of Lourdes [=McDevitt=]) had been a basketball player in high school and was highly supportive of the team. Also, in the national tournament semifinal game, the Macs' opponent is depicted as Mississippi State University, when it was actually Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women).

''The Mighty Macs'' is a 2009[[note]]It was filmed in 2007, premiered in 2009 and went into wide release in 2011[[/note]] SportsStory {{Drama}}, written and directed by Tim Chambers.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film gets the basics of the RealLife story correct, but also adds a lot of elements to spice up the narrative. Sister Sunday is completely fictional (Rush didn't actually have an assistant). The players in the film are fictionalized [[CompositeCharacter Composite Characters]] based on the real players (Trish Sharkey is a fictionalized version of Theresa Shank Grentz, who went on to win a national championship as a coach at Rutgers). The West Chester coach (Carol Eckard) wasn't really an {{Archenemy}} for Rush, as portrayed here. Unlike Mother St. John, who's indifferent to sports, the real university president who hired Rush (Sister Mary of Lourdes [=McDevitt=]) had been a basketball player in high school and was highly supportive of the team. Also, in the national tournament semifinal game, the Macs' opponent is depicted as Mississippi State University, when it was actually Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women).

** When they have a drink in the hotel bar after a road game, Cathy is shocked when Sister Sunday takes off her habit and reveals herself to be a beautiful young woman.

* ShownTheirWork: The period detail from TheSeventies is impressively accurate. The depiction of women's college basketball from that is well-researched--it really was quite a ragtag game, usually played in tiny women's gyms, and as Cathy mentions, the game had only recently changed from a six-on-six sport with limitations on dribbling and shooting, to a five-on-five sport more in-line with the mens' game (though the women had adopted a shot clock, which the men wouldn't do for another 15 years). Those blue belted dress uniforms were also TruthInTelevision. Also, various biographical details that Cathy mentions were completely true. She was a star player in high school, only to have the school drop varsity sports for girls before her senior year. She was cut from her college team after two years (when the school hired a new coach; in both cases, Rush took up gymnastics instead). And she really is Baptist, instead of Catholic.

* YouGoGirl: In some ways averted, since Immaculata was an all-female college (it went coed in 2005), but the general theme of an underdog women's basketball achieving success fits the trope well.

* SuperCoach: Cathy Rush, who emphasizes basketball fundamentals and conditioning and leads her RagtagBunchOfMisfits from a tiny Catholic college to the national championship.
* UnderdogsNeverLose: Averted early on as Immaculata suffers some losses as they try to coalesce as a team, but eventually reinforced. In RealLife, Cathy Rush lost just 15 games in seven years as the Immaculata head coach.

Described as ''Film/{{Hoosiers}}'' meets ''Film/SisterAct'', the film is still a fairly accurate account of the rise of Immaculata, which became a dominant force in early womens' college basketball, winning three national championships under Rush, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

* ShownTheirWork: The period detail from TheSeventies is impressively accurate. The depiction of womens' college basketball from that is well-researched--it really was quite a ragtag game, usually played in tiny womens' gyms, and as Cathy mentions, the game had only recently changed from a six-on-six sport with limitations on dribbling and shooting, to a five-on-five sport more in-line with the mens' game (though the women had adopted a shot clock, which the men wouldn't do for another 15 years). Also, various biographical details that Cathy mentions were completely true. She was a star player in high school, only to have the school drop varsity sports for girls before her senior year. She was cut from her college team after two years (when the school hired a new coach; in both cases, Rush took up gymnastics instead). And she really is Baptist, instead of Catholic.