It was 1996, which means Marsch was 22 then. He stopped and made time for Mitch Henderson, who reckons it was their first proper meeting.

“We were two years apart, but Jesse was in the same economics class. He’d just been drafted in the MLS and was commuting back and forth from Princeton to D.C.,” recalls Henderson. “I remember he was on his way to take the exam I’d just taken, an accounting exam. He was rushing, but stopped to talk. We had a funny exchange together.”

In the 30 years since, they’ve rarely been apart. Two very different Midwestern men trying to do the same damn thing: thrive in the tempest of coaching sports at the highest level. But first, that test.

“It went poor for both … or certainly poor for me. Maybe I shouldn’t speak for Jesse. But, hey, we both graduated.”

They did. From Princeton and then from the pressure cookers that rattle and spit out coaching wannabes on the way up. Henderson has been head coach of the Princeton men’s basketball team for 15 years, hauling in Ivy League titles and leading the Tigers on fairy tale March Madness runs with historic upsets.

From Princeton to Chicago, New York to Salzburg and Leeds, Marsch has done plenty of leading, winning and upsetting of his own. This week he embarks on something new: a first World Cup odyssey as head coach.

In recent weeks, the Star spoke in depth to Henderson and multiple others who’ve spent time with Marsch on his lifelong trek across planet football. As he spearheads Canada’s men into the biggest moment in their history, this is Marsch’s journey around the world.

Depending who you ask, Racine, Wis., is either known for kringles (a flaky, fall-apart pastry brought over by the Danes in the 1800s) or for its sturdy, stoic, industrial backbone.

Its first economy was built on machines used to separate the wheat from the chaff. Any player coached by Marsch over the past few decades would surely nod a knowing nod. The exacting, exhausting demands of Marsch the coach, the relentless work rate his system is built on, comes from many places. Plenty of it comes from his hometown and the wider Midwest.

Marsch’s father worked on the production line of a tractor part manufacturer. Effort was never optional. Yet like the beloved kringle with its 32 layers, there’s more to Marsch and his part of the world than just work. He previously spoke with the Star about the community and human connection of his grandparents’ tavern, and of asking wife Kim out on their first date the day after he got his driving licence at 16.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve,” Henderson says. “It’s like a pure place to grow up and be from, great values. A pride in place, but down to earth. Leeds felt that way to me for Jesse, but Canada really feels that way. An incredible fit.”

After Princeton, Marsch and Henderson reconnected and formed their lifelong bond back in the Midwest. Henderson was honing his talents under veteran coach Bill Carmody at Northwestern. Marsch had followed his own instrumental mentor Bob Bradley (who he worked under at Princeton and D.C. United) to the Chicago Fire. He was a combative midfielder and made his international debut on the back of form there. He was already thinking as a coach.

“Jesse would come to our games and sit behind the bench (and) listen in,” says Henderson. “We were spending a lot of time together and just always talking about sports and how they work.”

The pathway from homely Midwest to Ivy League prestige might not seem logical or straightforward. It was neither, but the Marsch family worked hard to afford Jesse’s opportunity.

Marsch has often hailed the influence of Bradley as the “big reason I am where I am.” In a wider sense, the Orange Bubble of Princeton gave liftoff to Marsch’s dreams and aspirations. When some of those popped and fell, he’d return to the New Jersey campus to heal, hone and go again.

It was playing for the Tigers that lit the fire for seeing the wider world, early tournament trips across the Atlantic sparking “my interest about what it would be like to live in Europe,” Marsch once told the Athletic.

Before they’d get there, there were learning curves. It is one of the ironies of his journey that Marsch’s first job in management was a modest struggle in Montreal. He’d leave after one season, take his three kids out of school and, with Kim, travel the world for six months. When he came back, it was to Princeton to ponder what went wrong — while doing home improvements for his friend.

“He was basically a landscaper,” laughs Henderson. “My wife was pregnant at the time with our second kid. We were doing our patio in the backyard. Jesse has a terrific sense of humour. Very quick to tease. I remember being at a golf outing and Jesse was like ‘don’t worry about me, just working on your backyard and putting in the bluestone.’ Jesse’s outlook then, without being sorry for himself, was ‘geez, when am I going to get my break, because I know I’m right there.’”

It would come close by when the Stateside arm of Red Bull’s vast football enterprise struck on Marsch as the man to lead them forward. He’d spend the next six years with its teams, buying all the way into the footballing philosophy which is now Canada’s, too.

“He saw the vision for Red Bull and it took off immediately,” adds Henderson. “We were there for that whole run. He was fluent in German with whatever the f—- he was doing. It’s insane. I remember in 2017-18 and I was in the car with him and he was learning German, had tapes from a teacher. It’s not an easy language and he was already (flying) along.”

The granite and basalt cobblestones of Salzburg’s Altstadt shine like onyx when bloated clouds come down from the Alps to empty themselves. The German word for charm is charme and the home of Mozart and “The Sound of Music” has all der charme in the world.

Marsch has plenty, too. But his arrival in Austria presented him with a pile of perceptions to push up the hills. An American coach in charge of a club that’d become a regular at European football’s top table, the Champions League? Mostly unheard of.

But Marsch used all he’d learned under Red Bull supremo Ralf Rangnick in a season as his assistant at RB Leipzig with his own human-first approach.

Ralf Neumann, a rehabilitation and athletics coach who worked closely alongside Marsch at Salzburg, recalls a first gathering of the staff where mostly all the new boss did was ask short questions and listen to long answers. “Jesse wanted to know everything,” Neumann says. “It was quite a first impression. He was very clear … while also being very open-minded with the entire training team. He quickly silenced the doubters.”

Marsch soon did so on the pitch, too. He’d continue a winning tradition and guide Salzburg to both the Austrian championship and cup twice from 2019-21. Yet a standout moment came in a see-saw loss to English giant Liverpool in the Champions League where Marsch’s half-German, half-English, halftime team talk went (and stayed) viral. Yet it was a moment the night before the game which Neumann recalls first.

“We were training at Anfield. Jesse used to work with a video analyst he knew very well, Victor (Bertini). This guy was normally a bit shy, working in the background. Jesse makes a big circle and says ‘Victor, come inside.’ We were all looking around, like what’s happening now? Then Jesse gave him the ball and wow, this guy was fantastic … a freestyle artist with a ball, I think he did it professionally in former years. For the entire group (it was) a really, really nice experience.”

Marsch’s innate ability to cleave the edge off tense moments will come in handy in the coming weeks. As will advance intel on both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland. One of Marsch’s European scouts helping Canada? Bertini.

It’s a truth of life and soccer that the right place and right time may not align. Marsch moved to the biggest job in the Red Bull stable, taking over Leipzig in the summer of 2021. Soon after, Kim was diagnosed with cancer. Perspective and priorities changed. They’ve both opened up on the battle with the Star.

Leaving that role after just six months hurt. “Jesse would say you learn the most when you’re losing,” says Henderson. The pair debate defeats in greater depth. They both see coaching as a lifelong education. Their intertwined journey as sponges has taken them peculiar places. The Princeton connection brought them to another former Tiger.

“We both started leadership councils and that was something that we took from Jason Garrett, who at the time was the Dallas Cowboys head coach. Your relationship with players is everything,” says Henderson. “Jason was managing this just gigantic workforce with the Cowboys. I’m a very small operation versus Leipzig or Leeds, but that skill set is a whole other animal. This is what Jesse’s skill level is now. Not just (managing) the team or group but … the ethos of a country.”

After Leipzig (and before Canada) Marsch had jumped into the biggest league and fishbowl with Leeds in the English Premier League. Taking over a relegation-threatened club which had just ditched a beloved figurehead in Marcelo Bielsa was daunting. Doing so at a time when hit show “Ted Lasso” was topping streaming charts didn’t help. Marsch was typecast by some English media, but plowed on.

“From the moment he walked in, he was just an incredible guy. Absolutely no airs or graces about him,” George Bell, head of academy physical development when Marsch arrived at Elland Road, tells the Star. The fans were won over as safety was achieved. Staff loved some other Marsch moves.

“One thing Jesse brought in — whenever a player was late, they had to pay a £500 fine. For most clubs it would go into a kitty for the players’ Christmas party,” adds Bell. “Jesse invited all the staff members to write something they wanted to the value of £500. Then if a player was late, they would have to pull out a slip and whatever came out, that player had to buy it for that staff member: golf clubs, iPads, you name it. A really nice idea.”

Having stayed up in the summer of 2022, Leeds started to drop again as seasons changed. He was sacked in February 2023 and that really stung. He’d spend over a year out of work at the Tuscany home he and Kim adored, while working on a holiday base on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

But coaching observations and ideas never let up. Henderson heard plenty from him. Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue called in 2024. “Canada came and it was such a natural fit,” recalls Henderson. As the national team roared to the semifinals of the 2024 Copa America and an all-time rankings high it has, largely, looked that way. Expectations have risen and Marsch now has to meet them.

As this monumental moment approaches, Marsch hasn’t become any less present to all the people in his life. He and Kim are godparents to Henderson’s son Archie, who will visit Canada’s camp in Vancouver around the second and third games of the group stage. First is the opener against Bosnia. Henderson’s phone has been warm with some hopefully useful cross-sport inspiration from his friend.

“We’ve pushed each other on set-pieces. We were just texting about Wemby and the (NBA Finals) in the last couple weeks,” smiles Henderson. “At the World Cup, you have to be so good at having people locked in, in such a quick period. You’ve got to find magic quickly and he can.

“He has embraced the Canadian way — along with bringing a big dose of Jesse.”

With files from Paul Madden, Special to the Star