Ault's current contract paying $360,000 annually plus incentives was set to expire after the 2008 season. Under the three-year extension approved by the Nevada Board of Regents yesterday, he'll get annual raises of $25,000 beginning next year.

"Chris is very deserving of an extension because he has brought stability to our football program and he has shown he will continue to take the football program to the next level," Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said.

Ault, who was a quarterback at Nevada and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, is the winningest coach in school history with a record of 185-78-1 over 22 years and the fifth-winningest active coach in Division I-A.

Since his return to Nevada's top coaching job for the third time three years ago, his teams have gone 22-15, including 8-5 last year and 9-3 the year before.

Ault said the stability will help make it easier to recruit.

"I certainly pleased to see that Cary Groth and (school president) Milton Glick have confidence in the direction of the program," Ault said. "We have set the foundation here and we want to keeping raising the bar for success of Nevada football."