Why fire Chris Ault?

Hi - my name is David Colborne. I'm a friend of "fire chris ault" and will be a regular contributor to this blog.

So, why do I want Chris Ault fired? To be honest, I really don't - I'd rather he leave of his own volition. That said, I'd also rather he left sooner than later. As much service and good as he's done for the football team over the years, he's earned the right to leave honorably.

Which brings us to the crux of the problem: Why on God's Green Earth would any self-respecting Nevada fan want Chris Ault to leave? He's the best football coach that Nevada has ever had. He's in the College Hall of Fame. When he left, he was succeeded with a series of extremely mediocre coaches, like Jeff Tisdel and Chris Tormey, each of whom led the program in the wrong direction. Since Ault took the reins for a third time, Nevada has begun to shine as a perennial bowl program, consistently staying in the upper third of the WAC for the past four years.

Therein lies the problem.

Ault was a great coach in the '80s. He is still a good coach now. However, he is not the coach that will bring Nevada to that next level - for better or worse, he will not be the coach that puts Nevada in the same breath as Utah, Boise State, or Hawaii. Our defenses have been consistently lackluster in his tenure. Our offenses, though flashy, tend to be error-prone. Most importantly, he's not a good game coach. He's amazing at recruiting, and he's wonderful at motivating people, but his tactical skills just aren't there.

More on this later.