Christopher Thomas Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served three stints at the head football coach at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

(1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 2004–2012), leading the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. Hi ...

to a record of 234–108–1 over 28 seasons and guiding the program from the NCAA's Division II to

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

in 1978 and then to Division I-A in 1992. Ault was also the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Nevada from 1986 to 2004. He was the school's starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 1965 to 1968. He is a former consultant for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Ault was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a coach in 2002, seven years after his first retirement from coaching in 1995. He also coached in the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level American football league in Italy established in 1980. History In the 1970's teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crow ...

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 John Lilley (born March 3, 1954) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, guitar teacher and landscape gardener, best known for being a member of rock band The Hooters. Early life John Lilley learned to play the guitar at nine years ol ...

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 The pistol offense is an American football formation and strategy developed by coaches Michael Taylor of Mill Valley, California and popularized by Chris Ault when he was head coach at the University of Nevada, Reno. It is a hybrid of the traditi ...

", which he instituted at Nevada in 2004. Since becoming the primary offense for Nevada, the Pistol has been used by other schools across the country. The

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

began employing the pistol offense with the emergence of former Nevada quarterback

Colin Kaepernick Colin Rand Kaepernick ( ; born November 3, 1987) is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who is a free agent. He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). In 2016, he knelt du ...

. Since installing the Pistol, Nevada has won shares of two WAC titles—in 2005 (with Boise State) and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

(with Boise State and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

). Ault won his 200th college football game October 9, 2009 when his

Wolf Pack A pack is a social group of conspecific canines. Packs aren't formed by all canines, especially small sized canines like the Red fox. The number of members in a pack and their social behavior varies from species to species. Social structure is v ...

beat

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

, 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.

Italian Football League

On September 17, 2015,

Rhinos Milano The Rhinos Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy. The team was founded in 1976 (first team in Italy) and won the Italian championship in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1990 and 2016. The Rhinos play in the Italian Football League (form ...

announced Ault as new head coach for the 2016 season. On July 9, 2016, he won the

Italian Bowl Championship after an undefeated season and a 13 games win streak. Ault led the Rhinos to the

Italian Bowl Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level American football league in Italy established in 1980. History In the 1970's teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crow ...

championship game again in 2017 but this time lost to

Seamen Milano The Seamen Milano are an American football team based in Milan, Italy that competes in the Italian Football League. The team will join the European League of Football for the 2023 season. History 80s The Seamen Milano were founded by Sergio Ga ...

, 37–29.

Education and family

Ault graduated from

St. Catherine's Academy St. Catherine’s Academy is a Catholic school, Catholic internship military academy#Pre-collegiate institutions, military school located in Anaheim, California. It was founded in 1889 by The Dominican Order#Dominican Sisters, Dominican Sisters of ...

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, graduated from

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in education in 1968 and went on to complete an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

in 1971. He is married to Kathy Ault and has three children: Lisa, Chris Jr., and Amy.

Head coaching record

College

Notes

References

External links

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Nevada profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ault, Chris 1946 births Living people American football quarterbacks Nevada Wolf Pack athletic directors Nevada Wolf Pack football coaches Nevada Wolf Pack football players UNLV Rebels football coaches High school football coaches in Nevada College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Italy