For about as long as I can remember the University of Connecticut has always been known as UCONN to it's fans and to the rest of the sporting world. However, it's never really been an official thing for the university itself. That all changed on Thursday afternoon as the university announced an official re-branding of itself as just simply UCONN.
The move only makes sense as the University and it's athletic programs have truly evolved from the days of Jim Calhoun having to explain that UCONN was a nickname for the University of Connecticut and not "The Yukon" of Canadian fame. Don't believe me, just Google that stuff… It's what all the cool kids are doing these days!
My how times have changed, huh? This re-branding comes on the heels of the Huskies being stuck as one of the few known names that will help make up the American Athletic Conference that begins play this fall.
It's also a powerful statement as to how much athletics can drive an identity of an entire university. After all, this is a school that didn't start playing big time college football until just 13 seasons ago. For sure basketball drove the UCONN name and image but now every part of the university will be touched by a name and a logo that has been athletics driven from it's very inception and folks, that doesn't happen very often at all.
Oh, and lest you worry, Johnny the Husky will still be a secondary logo and the mascot for UCONN as well, just an updated version that will be unveiled on April 18th.
Here are the examples of all the newly minted logos:
