Early career 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 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. 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.
New York Red Bulls 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
Red Bull Salzburg. However, both New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg denied the reports. 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.
Assistant at RB Leipzig 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. He further helped Rangnick lead the team to third place in the team's Bundesliga campaign, and to the final of the DFB-Pokal before falling to
Bayern Munich in the final. Marsch ultimately left the team after one season to replace
Marco Rose as coach of Leipzig's sister club Red Bull Salzburg.
Red Bull Salzburg coach in May 2021 Marsch was officially presented as head coach of Red Bull Salzburg on June 6, 2019. In his first season in charge, Marsch led Salzburg to winning the double. The team won the
Austrian Bundesliga by winning 68.75% of their games; 12 points ahead of second place
Rapid Wien making Marsch the first American coach to win a top flight league title in Europe. The team also won the
Austrian Cup 5–0 against
Austria Lustenau. During the
2020–21 season, Marsch led Salzburg to their third successive cup win, Marsch's second as coach, in a 3–0 win against
LASK. Salzburg also won the Bundesliga, making it two doubles in a row.
RB Leipzig Marsch was announced as the new head coach of RB Leipzig starting from the
2021–22 season, replacing
Julian Nagelsmann. Marsch won his first competitive match as Leipzig head coach 4–0 against
SV Sandhausen in the
DFB-Pokal. Leipzig then lost their season's opening
Bundesliga match 1–0 to
Mainz 05. Marsch won his first
Bundesliga match against
VfB Stuttgart on matchday two. He finished with a record of seven wins, four draws and six losses.
Leeds United On February 28, 2022, Marsch was appointed as head coach of
Premier League side
Leeds United and signed a three-year deal following the departure of
Marcelo Bielsa. He was the third American national to manage in the Premier League, after
Bob Bradley and German-born
David Wagner. The British press remarked that Marsch would have to combat prejudiced attitudes toward American soccer coaches. In Marsch's first game as Leeds coach, the team lost 1–0 at
Leicester City on March 5; they won at the third attempt eight days later, 2–1 at home to
Norwich City. On May 22, Marsch guided Leeds to a 2–1 win away at
Brentford to help the club avoid relegation in 17th position; it was the first time since 2011 that a team survived despite being in the relegation zone at the start of the final day. Leeds only managed to pick up six points in their first 11 games of the 2022–23 season. In their 12th game, against title contenders
Liverpool, Marsch guided Leeds to a 2–1 win away from home, their first win at
Anfield since 2001 and becoming the first team to beat Liverpool there since
Fulham in 2020–21. Leeds continued to struggle and only managed six points in their next eight games, which led to Marsch being sacked on February 6, 2023, with the club sitting 17th in the table. The club were relegated to the
Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season.
Canada On May 13, 2024, Marsch was appointed as head coach of the
Canada men's national team, the first American to coach Canada. His wages are being partially subsidized by Canadian MLS clubs
CF Montréal,
Toronto FC and the
Vancouver Whitecaps as well as donations from private parties due to the
Canadian Soccer Association's financial difficulties. His contract lasts through the
2026 FIFA World Cup, where Canada will be a co-host. Marsch's debut on June 6 was a 4–0 friendly loss to the Netherlands at
De Kuip, after which he said that it was important to play the best national teams to improve for the 2026 World Cup. Three days later his team drew 0–0 against the number 2 team in the
FIFA Men's World Ranking,
France, in
Bordeaux. At the
2024 Copa América in the United States – Canada's first entry in the
CONMEBOL competition – Marsch lost 2–0 to World and South American champions
Argentina in Canada's opening game, before a 1–0 win over
Peru gave him the first victory of his spell. A goalless result against
Chile in the final group game allowed the Canadians to advance as runners-up, before beating
Venezuela on penalties in the quarterfinals. After a semifinal elimination by eventual champions Argentina, Canada contested the third place playoff against
Uruguay, conceding an added-time equalizer by
Luis Suárez and losing on penalties. Marsch said that despite the result, his team were ahead of where he thought they would be six weeks into his post. After the Copa América, Marsch was linked with the national head coach job for the United States, who had fired
Gregg Berhalter after a group stage elimination. Marsch said that he had no interest in the U.S. job and would never consider it unless there were changes in the
United States Soccer Federation. He had previously been a candidate to replace Berhalter after the
2022 FIFA World Cup, but the latter was re-hired; Marsch criticized the USSF, saying "I wasn't treated very well" in the application process. Prior to the
2025 CONCACAF Nations League Finals, Marsch stated that he was ashamed of President Donald Trump's calls for
the United States to annex Canada and called the idea "ridiculous". Canada took third place with a 2–1 win over the United States, but Marsch was sent off for arguing with referee
Katia Itzel García over two penalty claims. He was suspended for two games at the
2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals after a penalty shootout loss to
Guatemala. ==Personal life==