Career
He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995, 2004–2012), leading the Nevada Wolf Pack to a record of 233–109–1 over 28 seasons and guiding the program from the National Collegiate Athletic Association"s Division II to Division I-Associate of Arts 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 currently a 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. 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. 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. 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. Ault graduated from Saint Catherine"s Military School in Anaheim, California, graduated from Nevada with a bachelor"s degree in education in 1968, and went on to complete an Master of Business Administration in 1971.