Jesse Marsch gets sacked by Leeds, and becomes a fascinating USMNT coaching candidate

Jesse Marsch has been fired by Leeds United after less than a year on the job, according to multiple reports on Monday.

The sacking comes about 24 hours after Leeds fell 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, and after a weekend that saw the club slip into 17th place, level on points with 18th-place Everton on the brink of the English Premier League's relegation zone.

Marsch, a Wisconsin native, had ascended to heights previously untouched by American coaches in European soccer. When he took the Leeds job last February after climbing the Red Bull ladder, from New York to Salzburg to RB Leipzig, he became the second U.S.-born Premier League manager ever. And he quickly outlasted the first, his mentor Bob Bradley, who in 2016 lasted less than three months at Swansea City.

Marsch's first half-season was a heart-pounding success. Leeds survived relegation on the final day of the 2021-22 campaign. It then roared into 2022-23, with a rousing win over Chelsea. But it has slumped since — and Marsch, after Monday's decision, has now lost his two most high-profile jobs, at Leeds and RB Leipzig, without completing a full season.

He will now be unemployed as U.S. Soccer begins its search for a new U.S. men's national team manager — a job that Marsch has long fancied. He said in 2020 that "coaching the U.S. national team would be incredible," and specifically that "coaching at the World Cup at home would be an incredible experience."

This is a developing story and will be updated.