Humanitarian Bowl a matchup of great coaching minds

Chris Ault: Nevada coach has Pistol offense firing out big numbers

Nevada football coach Chris Ault already was in the College Football Hall of Fame before he made his largest impact on the sport.

Ault introduced the Pistol offense in 2005 - a scheme that has popped up at high schools across the country and, in pieces, at many colleges.

In its fourth season, the Pistol produced 510.6 yards and 37.8 points per game for the Wolf Pack (7-5). Nevada will face Maryland (7-5) in the 12th annual Roady's Humanitarian Bowl on Tuesday at Bronco Stadium (2:30 p.m., ESPN).

Ault continues to expand the package, adding the option this year. The offense's signature is the abbreviated shotgun formation with a running back directly behind the quarterback, an unheard-of alignment before then.

"You just enjoy the nuances of it because it's different and there are a lot of things you can do with it," Ault said.

The offense has drawn all kinds of inquiries, including one from Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen on Friday when the two coaches met for the first time at Westy's Garden Lanes.

They chatted for a few minutes - most of it spent discussing the Pistol.

"I told him, 'I don't know if it's sadistic or not, but I'm watching your offense and really liking what I see,' " Friedgen said. "Of course, I don't like defending it."

Friedgen got his first glimpse of the Pistol while watching the 2005 Hawaii Bowl on TV. Nevada beat Central Florida - and that was before the quarterback run became such an important part of the offense.

"I was kind of enamored with what they were doing," Friedgen said.

He wasn't alone.

Ault and his coaching staff have taught the system at clinics and opened their spring football practices to any coaches who want to see it in action.

Boise State is among the schools to toy with the Pistol. In fact, Ault said the 20-yard touchdown run by Ian Johnson in the Poinsettia Bowl was a Pistol play.

"We've got a lot of high schools running our offense, a lot of colleges running phases of it," Ault said. "You can go under center and run maybe 65 percent of what we run."

Ault had some extra time to dream up offensive schemes during an eight-year retirement spent as Nevada's athletic director. He started the Pistol as a way to improve the run options out of the shotgun, which had forced offenses to line up the running back beside the quarterback and forfeit the back's running start.

Coaches like the shotgun because it gives the quarterback a better view of the defense. The Pistol is a have-it-both-ways compromise.

"He told me he thought of this while he was AD," Friedgen said, "which is probably par for the course - except this AD came back and was a football coach."

Ault, 62, was inducted into the hall of fame in 2002. He is 198-90-1 in 24 seasons during three stints at Nevada. He played quarterback at Nevada and was the athletic director from 1986 to 2003.

He still arrives at work at 4:30 a.m. every day - quiet time he cherishes. He can prepare for the day and maybe create another innovative scheme.

"He's a brilliant man," said sophomore quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the WAC Offensive Player of the Year. "The things he's done with this offense, that he's done with this team, are great. You have to give him credit. The numbers don't lie, what he's doing with this offense."

Ralph Friedgen: Maryland frontman is 'like an encyclopedia'

Maryland senior wide receiver Danny Oquendo has a book idea.

Not for himself.

For coach Ralph Friedgen.

"He's an offensive guru," Oquendo said. " He's so smart with X's and O's and techniques. He really needs to get it all in writing and sell it."

Friedgen's balanced attack will be on display when the Terrapins (7-5) face Nevada (7-5) in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl on Tuesday at Bronco Stadium.

Friedgen, 61, has been constructing offenses since 1977, when he became the offensive coordinator at The Citadel. He has been a head coach or offensive coordinator for 29 of the 32 seasons since - earning the "offensive genius" label in the media.

"He's like an encyclopedia," junior quarterback Chris Turner said. "He just knows so much. Football is always on his mind, which can be funny at times. That's all he's ever thinking about."

Friedgen inherited his mind for the game.

His father, also named Ralph, was a high school coach for 32 years. In 1964, Friedgen was the quarterback on his father's Westchester County (N.Y.) team that went undefeated and averaged 44 points per game running a multiple-formation offense that was a couple decades ahead of its time.

Friedgen called his own plays for his final two seasons. He went to Maryland as a quarterback and left as an offensive lineman.

He was honored as the Terrapins' best student for two straight years and was ready to follow his parents into teaching.

"Then I did my student teaching and I absolutely hated it," he said.

When he graduated, teaching wasn't an option. He had two - join the military and go to Vietnam or accept an academic scholarship and pursue his master's.

He chose the latter and coach Roy Lester, the fourth to hold the post in Friedgen's time at Maryland, asked him to serve as the volunteer freshman coach.

"I fell in love with coaching," Friedgen said. "I knew what I was passionate about then."

He was a graduate assistant with the Terps from 1969 to 1972. He moved to The Citadel, where he spent four years as the defensive line coach before Bobby Ross moved him to offensive coordinator in 1977.

From there, he took jobs as the offensive coordinator at William & Mary (1980), assistant head coach at Murray State (1981), offensive coordinator at Maryland (1982-86), offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech (1987-91), run game coordinator/tight ends coach with the San Diego Chargers (1992-93), offensive coordinator with the Chargers (1994-96), offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech again (1997-2000) and head coach at Maryland (2001-08).

For most of his career, through his time with the Chargers, he was following Ross.

Together, they won a national championship at Georgia Tech in 1990 and reached the Super Bowl with the Chargers in 1994.

Friedgen, long overlooked for head coaching jobs, won the Frank Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant in 1999 under George O'Leary at Georgia Tech.

"O'Leary was a tremendous source for me," Friedgen said. "He hated being in offense meetings, but he would stand there for about half an hour and tell me some of the things we could do that would cause this team problems. A lot of the things he suggested, a lot of other head coaches wouldn't allow us to do. We used four wide receivers and were running what Navy and Air Force run."

Friedgen's success at Georgia Tech finally attracted the attention of his alma mater. He took them to an ACC title and Orange Bowl berth in his first season and is 63-36 with six bowl appearances at a school that had one bowl appearance in the previous 15 years.

"He is one of the most respected coaches in the country," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "He has taken that Maryland program and he's put it on the map."