Chris Ault
Introduction
Christopher Thomas "Chris" Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former American football player, coach and athletic director. He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 2004–2012), leading the Nevada Wolf Pack to a record of 233–109–1 over 28 seasons and guiding the program from the NCAA's Division II to Division I-AA in 1978 and then to Division I-A in 1992. Ault was also the athletic director at Nevada from 1986 to 2004. He was the school's starting quarterback from 1965 to 1967. He is a former consultant for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Ault was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2002, seven years after his first retirement from coaching in 1995.
Coaching career
After the 2004 season, Ault fired head coach Chris Tormey. He named himself as the replacement three days later, with the approval of school president John Lilley and the Nevada Board of Regents. A member of the university's faculty senate expressed concern at the perceived conflict of interest, especially because the salary of head football coach exceeded that of athletic director.
Ault is credited as the creator of the "Pistol Offense", which he instituted at Nevada in 2005. Since becoming the primary offense for Nevada, the Pistol has been used by other schools across the country. The San Francisco 49ers began employing the pistol offense with the emergence of former Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Since installing the Pistol, Nevada has won shares of two WAC titles—in 2005 (with Boise State) and 2010 (with Boise State and Hawaii).
Ault won his 200th college football game October 9, 2009 when his Wolf Pack beat Louisiana Tech, 37–14.
On December 28, 2012, Ault announced his retirement, effective at the end of the year. In an emotional press conference, Ault said the time had come to pass the program to a new coach. He had spent 41 years―all but seven years of his adult life―at Nevada as a player, coach or administrator.
On September 17, 2015, Rhinos Milano announced Ault as new head coach for the 2016 season. On July 9, 2016, he won his first Italian Football League Italian Bowl after an undefeated season and a 13 games win streak.
Education and family
Ault graduated from St. Catherine's Academy in Anaheim, California, graduated from University of Nevada, Reno with a bachelor's degree in education in 1968 and went on to complete an M.B.A. in 1971. He is married to Kathy Ault and has three children: Lisa, Chris, Jr. and Amy.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada Wolf Pack (NCAA Division II independent) (1976–1977) | |||||||||
| 1976 | Nevada | 8–3 | |||||||
| 1977 | Nevada | 8–3 | |||||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (NCAA Division I-AA independent) (1978) | |||||||||
| 1978 | Nevada | 11–1 | L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal | ||||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (Big Sky Conference) (1979–1991) | |||||||||
| 1979 | Nevada | 8–4 | 5–2 | 2nd | L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal | ||||
| 1980 | Nevada | 6–4–1 | 4–3 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1981 | Nevada | 7–4 | 4–3 | T–4th | |||||
| 1982 | Nevada | 6–5 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1983 | Nevada | 9–5 | 6–1 | 1st | L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal | ||||
| 1984 | Nevada | 7–4 | 5–2 | 2nd | |||||
| 1985 | Nevada | 11–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal | ||||
| 1986 | Nevada | 13–1 | 7–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal | ||||
| 1987 | Nevada | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1988 | Nevada | 7–4 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1989 | Nevada | 7–4 | 5–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1990 | Nevada | 13–2 | 7–1 | 1st | L NCAA Division I-AA Championship | ||||
| 1991 | Nevada | 12–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal | ||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (Big West Conference) (1992) | |||||||||
| 1992 | Nevada | 7–5 | 5–1 | 1st | L Las Vegas | ||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (Big West Conference) (1994–1995) | |||||||||
| 1994 | Nevada | 9–2 | 6–1 | T–1st | |||||
| 1995 | Nevada | 9–3 | 7–0 | 1st | L Las Vegas | ||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (Western Athletic Conference) (2004–2011) | |||||||||
| 2004 | Nevada | 5–7 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| 2005 | Nevada | 9–3 | 7–1 | T–1st | W Hawaii | ||||
| 2006 | Nevada | 8–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd | L MPC Computers | ||||
| 2007 | Nevada | 6–7 | 4–4 | T–4th | L New Mexico | ||||
| 2008 | Nevada | 7–6 | 5–3 | T–2nd | L Humanitarian | ||||
| 2009 | Nevada | 8–5 | 7–1 | 2nd | L Hawaii | ||||
| 2010 | Nevada | 13–1 | 7–1 | T–1st | W Kraft Fight Hunger | 13 | 11 | ||
| 2011 | Nevada | 7–6 | 5–2 | T–2nd | L Hawaii | ||||
| Nevada Wolf Pack (Mountain West Conference) (2012) | |||||||||
| 2012 | Nevada | 7–6 | 4–4 | 5th | L New Mexico | ||||
| Nevada: | 233–109–1 | 133–53 | |||||||
| Total: | 233–109–1 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. | |||||||||
Coaching tree
Assistants under Chris Ault who became NCAA or NFL head coaches:
- Tim DeRuyter: Fresno State (2012–2016).
- Jeff Horton: Nevada (1993), UNLV (1994–1998), Minnesota (2010)
- Bobby Petrino: Louisville (2003–2006, 2014–present), Atlanta Falcons (2007), Arkansas (2008–2011), Western Kentucky (2013)
- James Spady: Alabama A&M (2014–present)