The UConn Huskies football team has represented the University of Connecticut in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football since the team's founding in 1896. The program has had 32 head coaches, including three interim coaches and an early period when the team had no head coach. The current coach is Jason Candle, who came over to UConn after 10 seasons at Toledo.
The nickname "Huskies" was 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 the school's abbreviated nickname "UConn" and the Canadian Yukon territory—where huskies are commonly used in dogsledding—are homophones, 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.
The Huskies have played 1,194 games during the program's 128 seasons through 2025. UConn joined the fledgling Yankee Conference in 1947, which merged with and became the Atlantic 10 football conference in 1997. Seven coaches—J. Orlean Christian, Robert Ingalls, John Toner, Robert Casciola, Larry Naviaux, Walt Nadzak, and Tom Jackson—led Connecticut to conference championships prior to the team's transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A in 2000, and one coach—Skip Holtz—led UConn to the Division I-AA playoffs in 1998. Following the transition, Edsall led the Huskies to Big East Conference championships in 2007 and 2010.
Randy Edsall is Connecticut's all-time leader in games coached (144), coaching wins (74), bowl game appearances (5), and bowl game wins (3). Bob Diaco is the only other UConn head coach to lead the team to a bowl game, which was lost. Dave Warner, who led the then-Aggies to a 3–0 record in his only season coached in 1914, is the all-time leader in winning percentage (1.000); E. S. Mansfield and Leo Hafford, who both lost every game they coached in 1898 and 1911, respectively, share the lowest-ever winning percentage (.000). Among coaches that led the team for longer than a single season, T. D. Knowles is the all-time leader in winning percentage (.712), while John F. Donahue has the all-time lowest winning percentage (.125).
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Coaches + List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, division and conference championships, and selected awards Overall Conference Postseason No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC Awards 00— No coach 1896–97 15 10 5 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 01 1898 3 0 3 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 02 1899–1901 26 18 7 1 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 03 1902–05 28 14 13 1 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 04 1906–07 13 4 9 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 05 1908 8 4 3 1 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 06 1909 8 3 5 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 07 1910 7 1 5 1 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 08 1911 5 0 5 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 09 1912 6 3 3 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 10 1913 8 5 3 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 11 1914 3 3 0 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 12 1915–16 16 2 14 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 12.5X No football played 1917–18 -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— -1— — 13 1919 8 2 6 0 -1— -1— -1— -1— 0 0 0 -1— -1— — 14 1920 8 1 6 1 -1— -1— -1— -1— 0 0 0 -1— -1— — 15 1921–22 17 5 8 4 -1— -1— -1— -1— 0 0 0 -1— -1— — 16 1923–33 89 36 39 14 -1— -1— -1— -1— 0 0 0 -1— -1— — 17 1934–49 121 66 51 4 5 3 0 0 0 0 -1— 1 — 18 1950–51 16 7 9 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 -1— 0 — 19 1952–63 106 49 54 3 29 16 3 0 0 0 -1— 6 — 20 1964–65 18 7 10 1 4 3 1 0 0 0 -1— 0 — 21 1966–70 47 20 24 3 17 6 2 0 0 0 -1— 2 Husky of Honor (as athletic director) 22 1971–72 18 9 8 1 8 2 1 0 0 0 -1— 1 — 23 1973–76 43 18 24 1 13 8 1 0 0 0 -1— 1 — 24 1977–82 65 24 39 2 14 15 1 0 0 0 -1— 1 — 25 1983–93 119 62 57 0 42 35 0 0 0 0 0 2 Yankee Conference Coach of the Year (1986) UPI New England Coach of the Year (1986) 26 1994–98 57 34 23 0 22 18 0 1 1 0 1 0 — 27 1999–2010 144 74 70 -1— 25 31 -1— 3 2 -1— 0 2 Big East Coach of the Year (2010) 28 2011–13 28 10 18 -1— 5 9 -1— 0 0 -1— -1— 0 — 28.5Int. 2013 8 3 5 -1— 3 5 -1— 0 0 -1— -1— 0 — 29 2014–16 37 11 26 -1— 6 18 -1— 0 1 -1— 0 0 — 30 2017–2021 38 6 32 -1— 2 22 -1— 0 0 -1— 0 0 — 28.5Int. 2021 7 1 6 -1— – – -1— – 0 0 -1— 0 0 — 31 2022–2025 50 27 23 -1— 0 0 -1— 1 1 -1— 0 0 — Int.Gordon Sammis2025101-1—00-1—-1—01-1—00-1—32Jason Candle2026–Present000-1—00-1—-1—
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