Jesse Marsch

Jesse Alan Marsch (born November 8, 1973) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who last managed Leeds United.

Marsch played 14 seasons as a midfielder in Major League Soccer (MLS) with D.C. United, Chicago Fire, and Chivas USA, winning three league titles and four U.S. Open Cup titles, as well as earning two caps for the United States national team.

Marsch played college soccer for Princeton University, where he was an All-American in 1995 after scoring 16 goals as a midfielder and forward.

Marsch was brought in by D.C. United (their assistant coach was his coach at Princeton, Bob Bradley) in the third round of the 1996 MLS College Draft.

Marsch spent the next two seasons with D.C. United, but played in only 15 games.

D.C. assistant coach Bob Bradley, named to lead the expansion Chicago Fire, acquired Marsch soon after the Expansion Draft in exchange for A. J. Wood and a second-round pick in the 1998 College Draft.

He helped the Fire to the 1998 MLS Cup, giving him three league championships in three seasons.

While with Chicago, he also won the U.S. Open Cup in 1998, 2000 and 2003.

His first came as a substitute in a scoreless World Cup qualifier tie away to Trinidad and Tobago on November 11, 2001; the other came on June 2, 2007 in a 4–1 friendly win against China in San Jose, California.

Following his retirement, Marsch was hired as an assistant to his former college and club coach Bob Bradley with the United States men's national team.

Marsch immediately became a regular in Chicago and remained a mainstay in their lineup through 2005.

After the 2005 season, Marsch was transferred to Chivas USA, where Bradley was then coaching.

At the time, he left the Fire as the club's all-time leader in regular season games played with 200 (he now sits sixth behind C. J. Brown, Logan Pause, Gonzalo Segares, Zach Thornton and Chris Armas).

Marsch is one of three players to have played in each of the first 14 seasons of Major League Soccer.

In 2010, Marsch retired from his playing career and became a coach, first serving as an assistant with the U.S. national team under Bob Bradley that reached the last 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

On February 5, 2010, he announced his retirement after four seasons with Chivas to enter coaching.

Marsch received two caps with the United States national team.

Marsch remained with the U.S. program until Bradley's firing in July 2011.

In August 2011, Marsch was unveiled as the first head coach of Major League Soccer expansion franchise Montreal Impact, starting play in 2012.

In their first MLS game on March 10, the team lost 2–0 at fellow Canadians Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

He then became the inaugural head coach of the Montreal Impact upon its entry to MLS in 2012.

The club finished in 12th place with 42 points.

After that one season, Marsch left the club in November 2012.

Though team management had been emphatic about their satisfaction with Marsch's work, the differences in coaching philosophies between Marsch and the management of the club led to an "amicable" split.

In 2015, after a year-long stint as the assistant coach for his alma mater, the Princeton Tigers, Marsch was hired as head coach of the New York Red Bulls and stayed in the role through the first half of the 2018 MLS season.

In his first year coaching the team, the Red Bulls won the Supporters' Shield and Marsch was named MLS Coach of the Year.

Marsch holds the record for most wins by a coach in franchise history.

In January 2015, Marsch was named head coach of New York Red Bulls, replacing Mike Petke.

In his first season at the helm, Marsch led New York to the MLS Supporters' Shield and a club record 18 league victories and 60 points and was named the MLS Coach of the Year.

After a successful start to his career, the Red Bulls extended his contract in June 2016, offering Marsch a multi-year deal.

In January 2017, Marsch was linked to taking over for Óscar García as the manager of Austrian club FC Red Bull Salzburg.

However, both New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg denied the reports.

In 2018, Marsch was appointed as an assistant coach at German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig under Ralf Rangnick; the team placed third in the league, was runner-up in the German Cup, and competed in the UEFA Europa League.

The following season, Marsch was appointed the successor to Marco Rose as coach of Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga; he led the club to a league and cup double in two consecutive seasons, as Salzburg made successive Champions League group stage appearances for the first time in club history.

He returned to RB Leipzig as club coach for the 2021–22 season, leaving by mutual consent in December and joining Leeds United in February.

In July 2018, Marsch left the Red Bulls as the coach with the most wins in the club's history, with a record of 75–32–44.

Chris Armas followed as new head coach.

Marsch became assistant to RB Leipzig head coach Ralf Rangnick for the 2018–19 season, signing a two-year contract in July 2018.

During Marsch's tenure as an assistant for Leipzig, he was tasked with organizing the team's training sessions and preparing them for opponents.

Marsch helped lead them to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, where the team finished third in their group and bowed out of the competition.