The resumes piled high on Peter Vermes&rsquo; desk. More than 100 candidates applied to become the next head coach of the Wizards. </p><p> They never had a chance. </p><p> As Vermes, the club&rsquo;s technical director since November 2006, served as the Wizards&rsquo; interim head coach for the last 12 games of the 2009 season, he rediscovered his passion for coaching. </p><p> And on Tuesday afternoon, Vermes, a former star player for the Wizards, was introduced as the fourth head coach in franchise history. He also will continue his role in the front office as technical director.</p><p> &ldquo;In the two months I coached, I realized, no matter how close you are as the technical director or general manager &hellip; you&rsquo;re still pretty far away from knowing exactly what&rsquo;s going on with that team,&rdquo; said Vermes, who was given a three-year contract. &ldquo;It provided me a great opportunity to evaluate the team and see how you can make changes going forward. </p><p> &ldquo;I always believed this was a place where you had the opportunity to build an amazing club in MLS. I gave it a lot of thought, and if you really want to build something, sometimes you have to be willing to take on the challenges and the risks. I&rsquo;m willing to do that, knowing the opportunity and responsibility falls with me.&rdquo;</p><p> Vermes will retain two assistant coaches &mdash; Kerry Zavagnin and John Pascarella &mdash; whom he inherited from predecessor Curt Onalfo, along with Zoran Savic, who joined the staff at midseason. </p><p> In addition, the Wizards are expected to add personnel in scouting and perhaps another assistant to help Vermes with the burden of filling two jobs.</p><p> Wizards president Robb Heineman believes Vermes gives the club the best opportunity to return to post-season play and contend for the MLS Cup, which they won in 2000 with Vermes as a player.</p><p> &ldquo;Peter positions us to win and win consistently,&rdquo; Heineman said. &ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t think we had a plan to try and get this team back in the playoffs in the very near term, we wouldn&rsquo;t have made the decision to go with him.&rdquo;</p><p> The Wizards missed the playoffs this year for the first time since 2006, going 8-13-9 overall and 3-6-3 under Vermes. But Heineman liked what he saw in Vermes, whose previous coaching experience was with the U.S. Under-20 Men&rsquo;s National Team in 2006.</p><p> &ldquo;I saw a team that was more organized, that had a different mentality and had a guy who is focused and dedicated to making sure all the details were taken care of to make sure the club is successful,&rdquo; Heineman said. &ldquo;At the end of the day, I trust Peter. He believes in Kansas City, that&rsquo;s a big thing for us, and we feel he&rsquo;s the right guy for our organization.&rdquo;</p><p> Vermes promises substantial changes in the Wizards&rsquo; roster, a team he had a hand in building with Onalfo.</p><p> &ldquo;Is the nucleus what it needs to be?&rdquo; Vermes said. &ldquo;No. We didn&rsquo;t do well in many different areas as a team this past year. But there was a change in the mentality and culture in our team the last two months. That&rsquo;s a big part of a successful team. When preseason comes, we have a chance to start from day one and make sure those changes are immediate.</p><p> Vermes, a finalist for the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a player, blamed a lack of fitness for the Wizards&rsquo; problems this season.</p><p> &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard work inside those white lines,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fun. You&rsquo;ve got to bust it every play. The reward is when you step off the field, you realize you implemented the game plan, you&rsquo;ve gotten your three points. Then you&rsquo;ve got to get back to business the next day because the next game is coming. That&rsquo;s where the hard work is.&rdquo;