Nevada's Chris Ault explains why he's leaving team now

• Departing coach Chris Ault believes the program hit a ceiling under his leadership
• Ault also grew tired of doing so much with so little
• Nevada blew a 13-point lead in the final two minutes against Arizona in the New Mexico Bowl

After the Wolf Pack football team blew a 13-point lead in the final two minutes of its New Mexico Bowl game against Arizona two weekends ago, Nevada players buried their faces in agony.

Arizona's players erupted in joy.

And as Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault crossed the field to shake coach Rich Rodriguez's hand, he was already contemplating his future.

"Walking across the field to shake his hand, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life," Ault said. "The way that thing ended was just so hard to swallow."

In the two weeks since that devastating loss, Ault evaluated his football program and his future. On Friday afternoon at Legacy Hall, the shrine he helped build as the school's athletic director, Ault told Reno it was time to move on. The 28th-year coach with a 233-109-1 career record would be leaving the Wolf Pack.

"It's been a privilege to have been a part of this university as a student-athlete, as a coach and as an administrator for 42 years," Ault said. "My whole adult life and all that I value, in one way or another, has revolved around this university. It's really been a privilege to have been a part of something this special."

About an hour after he announced his retirement, Ault retreated to his office at Cashell Fieldhouse and offered more about why now is the right time to hand the program off.

He said he didn't think he could build it any higher. Ault believes the program hit the ceiling under his leadership.

The 66-year-old took his time with the decision.

He thought about the five times over the past two years Nevada allowed double-digit, fourth-quarter leads turn into heart-breaking losses. He thought about how the Wolf Pack should have suffered the same fate in a thrilling win over Boise State in 2010 if not for a missed 26-yard field goal by Kyle Brotzman.

Ault again thought about the loss to Arizona. He figured the program was no longer moving forward.

"When I got home after that Arizona game, I was devastated," Ault said. "We should have won the game. We should have won that damn game. Period. And we didn't. And it's the same way we lost all those other games. I went back the past few nights and I thought, 'If I haven't gotten it straightened out yet, then when am I going to get it straightened out?'

"Here we are one of the best offenses in the country and we couldn't get the defense there. The frustration came down to this: We kept losing games the same way. That can't happen, and I was in charge of everything. As we developed the Pistol offense, I think subconsciously our defensive players and coaches thought, 'Well, we can just out-score folks. We can beat these teams 49-48.'"

Ault also grew tired of doing so much with so little. He felt like the proverbial hamster in the wheel.

With Nevada's football budget sitting around $5 million (more than $3 million below the Mountain West average), he was starting to wear down – if only just slightly. Former Wolf Pack running backs coach Jim Mastro, now an assistant at Washington State, could tell Ault was getting frustrated.

"He was just tired," Mastro said. "I could see it in his eyes. I talked to him a couple of days ago and he seemed energetic but I could tell there was more going on. You can call it a bittersweet, but to me it's a sad day. As I've said a million times before, people aren't going to realize what they had here until he's gone. They'll realize it now. There are tough times ahead."

Ault, who called his four decades at Nevada "a storybook career," leaves a legacy as one of the most innovative coaches in college football history. The longtime Nevada coach won eight conference titles, reached 10 bowl games and created the now widely used Pistol offense.

But his most lasting legacy could be his loyalty. Unlike many college coaches, Ault didn't leave Nevada for the first big offer that came his way. He made Reno his home and gave the school national relevance.

"Moments like this are bittersweet," said UNR president Marc Johnson, the only person Ault consulted, other than his wife Kathy, before making the decision. "I was looking over Coach's résumé last night — it's very long — and all I can say is, 'Thank you,' and think about the sweet parts and contributions this man has made to the university, to the athletic program and football at this university and throughout the nation."

Wolf Pack athletic director Cary Groth, who announced her retirement in August effective at the end of the 2012-13 season, said she never would have come to Nevada if Ault wasn't at the school.

"I don't know if I've ever worked with a finer man integrity-wise," Groth said.

Ault wouldn't say he was retiring, which leaves open the door for him to return to coaching. He laughed when asked if he'd come back for a fourth tenure as Nevada's head coach or if he was interested in the vacant athletic director's job.

Ault's time at Nevada is over. But his impact won't soon be forgotten.

"He was more than just a football coach," Mastro said. "He was more than just our boss. He was like our dad. When I lost my father a couple of years ago, he was the substitute for a while. He meant everything in the world to me and he's meant everything in the world to college football."

Chris Murray writes for the Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett property.