Jesse Marsch is away

The last time Jesse Marsch stepped away from the New York Red Bulls for a while, he returned to find the rumor-mill had given his job to Chris Armas and fired Ali Curtis. The club's official line on the brouhaha that overshadowed RBNY's Draft Day was that it was simply a product of the overheated imaginations of the MLS Combine's hotel lobby gossipers. Nothing to see here, move along: Jesse Marsch is still the RBNY head coach.

In the name of helping what's left of RBNY's off-season run a little more smoothly, a public service announcement on behalf of the team: Jesse Marsch is away again. But this time we know where he is and why he is there (and there's no Combine or Draft, so no one is necessarily looking for him anyway).

After the MLS SuperDraft on January 13, Jesse Marsch told Matt Harmon he'd be hanging out in LA a little longer:

"I'll be here actually for another five days, because I'm in the second year of this pro license through US Soccer."

(Around the 3:30 mark below)

The official title is the US Soccer Pro Course. It is a year-long exercise that provides what is now the highest level of "soccer licensing" in North America. Entrants to the program must already hold the US Soccer A license, which used to be the gold standard until the Pro Course came along.

Marsch is part of a class of 17 who comprise the second cohort to take the course. His classmates include US Women's National Team head coach Jill Ellis, Portland Timbers MLS Cup winning coach Caleb Porter, and the man who just guided Seattle Sounders to their first MLS Cup, Brian Schmetzer.

The first-ever class of Pro Course graduates was announced in December, and included FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja, and trio of former MetroStars: Peter Vermes (now head coach of Sporting Kansas City), Richie Williams (USA U-17 MNT head coach from 2012 to 2015), and Tab Ramos (currently the USA U-20 MNT head coach).

Jesse Marsch and his classmates can expect their year to include "three collective meetings, two individual club visits from US Soccer coach educators, and a final presentation". The meeting in LA from January 14 to 18 is the first of the collective get-togethers for the group.

And then Marsch will presumably return to RBNY to get the team's preseason underway. MLS players are expected to report for preseason on January 23.