Vaas's roots are at Holy Cross - where ex-Claymores GM Dick Reagan is now athletic director. He was a walk-on QB there in the early 70's, becoming a 3-year starter and setting numerous passing records during his senior season. After graduating he quickly went into coaching, eventually becoming a head coach at Allegheny College in 1986 (where he had started as an assistant coach 12 years previously. There he complied a 29-11-1 record in four seasons, winning two North Coast Athletic Conference Championships along the way. That was the springboard to one of the dream jobs in all college ball - RB coach (and then QB coach) for Notre Dame. That was when guys like Ricky Watters, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks were all South Bend and Vaas helped them on their way to successful NFL careers. He also coached Rick Mirer - so no-one is perfect!!!

After Notre Dame, he went back to Holy Cross as head coach for 3 years, before his international tour started to take shape. In 1996 he went North to Montreal to be the offensive coordinator for the Montreal Allouettes. Then in 1998, Cowboy Jack came calling and Vaas headed off to Spain to become an offensive assistant for the Barcelona Dragons. Vaas helped coach big seasons out of Todd Bouman and Brian Finneran in 1999 as the Dragons made it all the way to World Bowl 99. For his efforts he was offered the top job in Berlin where Wes Chandler had left after one season.

It was an up and down rookie season for coach Vaas in 2000. At 3-3 they were poised for a World Bowl run leading the Fire 20-0 at halftime in Dusseldorf, but Danny Wuerffel threw 4 TD's in the 2^nd half to lead a 28-27 Fire comeback win. The Thunder never recovered and finished 4-6 but Vaas made sure the team never quit and will be a force to be reckoned with in 2001.

We first ran into coach Vaas, in Milton Keynes of all places on a bitterly cold November day in 1998. Great Britain were playing France in a European Championship Qualifier, and we spotted Pete in his Dragons jacket looking lost at Milton Keynes Station. So we pointed the way to the stadium and said we'd see him in Sitges. And that we did. Another Claymores loss in Barcelona and Pete was more than happy to see us …

We were delighted when Pete got the top job in Berlin and couldn't wait to say hi when we visited in Week 3 in 2000. The Claymores had lost and we were pissed off to put it mildly. But then the Thunder team bus slowly rolled out the stadium and suddenly there's a guy in the front, standing up saluting to us. Coach V! And it just got better. Back at the party at Axel Kruse's bar Pete made sure we were VIP's and had plenty of beer to drink away our sorrows!

Then when the Claymores got sweet revenge the following week in a 42-3 drubbing of the Thunder, Pete was in great form after the game when Shuggie presented him with a gift to show our thanks for the previous week. The Coach must have been seething over the way his team had played, but you wouldn't have known it. Class guy all round!

Congratulations Pete - you deserve it!