Former Nevada football coach and Wolf Pack athletic director Chris Ault will headline the school’s annual Governor’s Dinner on July 15.

A College Football Hall of Famer, Ault left a lasting legacy on Wolf Pack athletics with a one-of-a-kind career at Nevada where he was a student-athlete, coach and administrator spanning six decades in silver and blue. Ault was at Nevada continuously from 1976-2012 as the department’s head football coach and/or athletics director. He was the Wolf Pack’s athletic director from 1986-2004 and had three stints as head football coach from 1976-92, 1994-95 and 2004-12.

The winningest coach in school history with a career record of 233-109-1 over 28 seasons, Ault guided Nevada from Division II to I-AA (now FCS) to I-A (now FBS) with tenures across the Big Sky, Big West, WAC and Mountain West where he won championships in those first three conferences. Overall, he led Nevada to 10 conference crowns and took the Wolf Pack to postseason play 16 times, including 10 bowl games over 12 FBS seasons.

Ault, now 78, left a long list of accolades and contributions to the game, perhaps none of which was greater than his creation of the Pistol offense in 2005, a scheme employed by hundreds of teams at every level of football. Ault remains the only coach in NCAA history to have his team lead the nation in passing offense (1995) and rushing offense (2009) and introduced the nation to the current overtime format by way of the Big Sky Conference in 1980 as well as the middle screen – also known as a wide receiver screen or jailbreak screen – which was developed at Nevada and debuted in 1981.

His experience at Nevada began as a quarterback when the San Bernardino, Calif., native played for the Wolf Pack from 1965-67. He would go on to earn two degrees from the university, receiving his bachelor’s degree in education in 1969 and earning his master’s in administration in 1973. Ault and his wife, Kathy, have three children, all of whom attended Nevada, Lisa, Chris Jr., and Amy.

Ault was hired by Nevada in 1976 at the age of 29, the youngest college coach in the country at the time. Over his first tenure (1976-92), he guided the program from a non-conference NCAA Division II affiliation into the Big Sky and from FCS domination to the FBS in the Big West, becoming the first school to win a conference title in the program’s first year in the FBS. In 1991, Ault engineered the greatest comeback in NCAA history (35 points vs. Weber State).

Ault also left an imprint on Nevada athletics as an administrator. He was the driving force behind the funding of tuition and fee waivers for both state universities to help meet the rising cost of education; fostered the school’s jump to the FBS; spearheaded the fundraising efforts for the construction of Legacy Hall, among others facilities; and hired several of Nevada’s most successful head coaches, including Trent Johnson (men’s basketball), Jian Li You (diving), Michelle Gardner (softball), Devin Scruggs (volleyball) and Curt Kraft (track and field).

Ault returned to the sidelines a final time in 2004 and restored championship-caliber football to the Nevada. He took the Wolf Pack to eight consecutive bowl games and a pair of WAC championships in 2005 and 2010 before stepping down following the 2012 season. In 2009, Ault became the 54th coach in NCAA history (all divisions) to win 200 games in a career and the 30th to win 200 at one school. Ault notched his 200th victory in the 11th-fewest number of games (294) behind Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, Pop Warner, LaVell Edwards, Bobby Bowden, Bear Bryant and Vince Dooley and tied with Amos Alonzo Stagg.

The 2010 Wolf Pack went 13-1 overall, won the WAC championship, beat Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and was ranked No. 11 in the final polls. The season included home victories over No. 25 Cal and No. 4 Boise State, an epic come-from-behind overtime effort. For the seventh time in his career, Ault was tabbed by his peers as the conference’s coach of the year.

Ault was appointed to a three-year term on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee in 2023 and has one more year left on his term.

The 56th annual Governor’s Dinner kicks off with a private VIP reception featuring live music and cocktails at 5 p.m. with the backyard opening to other guests at 6 p.m. with the dinner and program at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $350 per person and tables of 10 for $3,500. VIP tickets, which include the pre-event VIP reception, pictures with Ault and Governor Joe Lombardo, and premier reserved seating for the dinner and program, are $500 a person with tables at $5,000. The registration deadline is July 8 .