The University of Connecticut athletic teams are nicknamed the "Huskies" and compete at the NCAA's Division I level and in the Football Bowl Subdivision. UConn moved to the American Athletic Conference in most sports in 2013; the Huskies were a charter member of The American when it was founded in 1979 as the original Big East Conference, and were the only remaining charter member of that league. In 2019, UConn accepted a formal invitation to join the Big East Conference following a unanimous vote of the conference's members. The Huskies will begin playing in the Big East in the 2020–2021 season in all twenty sports except for football and men's/women's ice hockey. UConn men's ice hockey became a full member of Hockey East in 2014–15. The women's hockey team will remain in the Hockey East as well, as they were founding conference members in 2002 when the league began women's ice hockey competition. The football program will not be returning to the AAC and will begin play as an FBS Independent starting in the 2020–2021 season. Regardless of football conference affiliation, the school has publicly committed to competing in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the foreseeable future. This will make UConn the only member of the Big East to compete at the highest level of college football.