The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's football team plays at Rentschler Field, and the men's and women's basketball teams play on-campus at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and off-campus at the XL Center.
History
Nickname
The university's teams are nicknamed "Huskies", a name adopted following a student poll in The Connecticut Campus in 1934 after the school's name changed from Connecticut Agricultural College to Connecticut State College in 1933; before then, the teams were referred to as the Aggies. Although there is a homophonic relationship between "UConn" and the Yukon, where Huskies are native, the "Huskies" nickname predates the school's 1939 name change to the University of Connecticut; the first recorded use of "UConn" (as "U-Conn", both separately and with "Huskies") was later in 1939. However, in a 1997 interview, the student body president in 1935 claimed the Husky mascot selection was a direct reference to the Yukon / UConn homophone. The university and its athletics officially rebranded to UConn in the spring of 2013.
Conference history
UConn's teams participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big East Conference for all sports except football and men's and women's ice hockey. UConn's football team participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Huskies were founding members of the original Big East Conference in 1979, which UCONN left for the American Athletic Conference in 2013. In 2020, UConn joined the new Big East Conference, reuniting it with many of the schools against which it played for over three decades in the original Big East. The football team competes as an FBS independent team.
The club alpine skiing team competes in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association because of a stricter limit on NCAA skiing programs.
Sports teams
Baseball
The UConn baseball team is coached by Jim Penders and plays home games at Elliot Ballpark.
In 2010, the UConn baseball team set a program record for wins in a season with 48. This eclipsed the previous mark of 39. The team played as the No. 2 seed alongside No. 1 Florida State (ACC), No. 3 Oregon (Pac-10), and No. 4 Central Connecticut State (NEC). The Huskies placed third in the regional with a 1–2 and played in front of 5,684 fans in their Friday opener against Oregon. The team finished the season ranked 22nd in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll and 28th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
In the summer of 2010, Huskies George Springer and Matt Barnes were named to the Collegiate USA National Team. Also, four players were named to their respective collegiate summer league All-Star teams- John Sulzicki of the Butler BlueSox (Prospect League), Greg Nappo of the Haymarket Senators (Valley Baseball League), Billy Ferriter of the North Fork Ospreys (Hamptons Collegiate Baseball), and Michael Zaccardo of the Riverhead Tomcats (Hamptons Collegiate Baseball).
In 2011, UConn baseball was ranked 1st in the Big East Conference preseason poll. George Springer and Matt Barnes were named preseason Big East Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. The team advanced to the first Super Regional in program history, spoiling a potential Super Regional derby by defeating ACC powerhouse Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in winning the Clemson regional. In the Super Regional, the chances of a Palmetto Double Sweep were ended by eventual champion South Carolina.
In 2013, UConn baseball became the first 8 seed to win the Big East Tournament. UConn knocked off the 1 seed Louisville 3–2 in ten innings in the opening game, came back from a 7–0 deficit to beat South Florida 8–7, beat Rutgers 2–1 in the semifinals, and beat Notre Dame 8–1 for the championship.