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Fisher DeBerry, the face of Air Force football for 23 years with its trademark triple-option offense, announced his retirement today.

“There comes a time in every man’s life when you have to look at the big picture and decide what s the best thing for your family,” DeBerry said, at a mid-day press conference. “After 27 exciting and wonderful years here at the Academy and a total of 44 years of coaching, I am announcing my retirement from active coaching.”

“Coaching is the best job a guy could have, but it is a very demanding and time consuming job,” he said.

“Nobody has done a better job of building leaders of character for our Air Force and nation than Fisher DeBerry,” athletic director Hans Mueh said.

DeBerry leaves with a 169-109-1 overall and 100-73-1 combined Western Athletic Conference/Mountain West Conference record, with three WAC titles. He took the Falcons to 12 bowls games, highlighted by the 1985 Bluebonnet 24-16 victory over Texas when he was national coach of the year and the 1990 Liberty Bowl 23-11 upset of Ohio State.

Most important to the academy, his Falcons won 13 Commander-in-Chief trophies. However, Navy has won the past four and AFA has not posted a winning record since 7-5 in 2003.

“When you say the term icon, Fisher DeBerry would suffice to define what an icon is,” said former Falcons basketball coach Reggie Minton, now an executive with the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

“He was promoted everything good about the Air Force Academy, college athletics and college football.”

The Cheraw, S.C., native’s Southern drawl and homespun humor were a hit on a banquet circuit. He had a fiery sideline demeanor, slamming his cap to the turf on bad plays and bad calls.

There has been extensive speculation about his retirement, over the last two seasons. The Falcons had their second straight four wins overall and 3-5 MWC finish.

Air Force went 4-8 this season, its third consecutive losing season after going 4-7 in ’05 and 5-6 in ’04.

DeBerry, who joined the Air Force Staff in 1980 as an assistant, became head coach in 1984 and went 8-4 and earned a trip to the Independence Bowl.

His 23 seasons as head coach at the Academy ranks third on the longest active tenures at one school behind Penn State’s Joe Paterno (41 years) and Bobby Bowden’s 31 years at Florida State.