Former Leeds United coach Rene Maric is one of the contenders for the vacant Sunderland job ahead of the summer, having left Elland Road when Jesse Marsch was sacked.

The Championship has been incredibly unforgiving this season in terms of managers, but some clubs have managed to unearth some gems recently.

Kieran McKenna is the prime example at Ipswich Town, while Enzo Maresca, Carlos Corberan, Liam Rosenior, Michael Carrick, and Danny Rohl have all emerged from assistant roles to become top managerial prospects in the Championship.

Now, i News are claiming that the 31-year-old is part of the current Stadium of Light shortlist to take over from interim boss Mike Dodds.

Maric, of course, was part of Jesse Marsch's coaching staff at Elland Road before the American was sacked in February 2023 after a run of poor results.

Will Leeds get promoted?

Maric emerging as interesting coaching prospect It was hard for Maric or any coach to stand out or make a totally positive name for themselves during Marsch's tenure - as it was a largely rough period for Leeds with performances not nearly good enough in the Premier League.

Maric is now Bayern Munich's U19 coach, and has recently spoken about his experience in West Yorkshire, via Training Ground Guru:

"Having a young squad, the idea was to have a coach who had a track record of developing talent. In the end, in terms of why it didn't work out, it's not easy to say. There are things that you can say, like the expected goals numbers were better than the rest showed. In terms of the absolute amount of running and sprinting, we were still top three in the league.

"I think only three clubs had a positive net spend - Leicester, Leeds and Manchester City. City won everything and Leeds and Leicester got relegated. But, in the end, you can always use these things as factors and try to explain stuff.

"But it didn't work out. I can just talk about myself, and I'm quite honest. There are things that, in retrospect, I would like to have done better. I did try, obviously, to do my best. I wasn't able to do that. In the end, after I got fired, I went to the next two games and was in the stand. I met some great people and still keep in touch with some of them.

"In that period, there was also some turmoil in terms of the high-ups; it's just normal if you're selling a club, if you're in the process, every decision has an additional point of discussion. Do you want to do it now? Do you do it later? And then things can get slower. That's normal. That's part of the situation and not necessarily the people.

"It's just sad that, in the end, such a historically big club with a great fan base couldn't make it through the season. I'm still very disappointed. I track every result. I was in touch with the new coaching staff, giving some feedback, ideas, and wishing them luck. And I think they're doing a great job for a great team."

Sunderland could be onto a shrewd appointment Maric wasn't able to really showcase his tactical nous too much at Leeds with Marsch at the helm, as he was the head coach and that's just how things work.

However, so many visibly intelligent assistants are making a name for themselves in the game, such as all the names above, while Mikel Arteta could be snatching the Premier League title from the man who taught him everything, Pep Guardiola.

With Maric, it would be very interesting to see how he gets on after very little insight into his methods while he was at Leeds - all the noises are that he's a coach to keep an eye on.

The big updated Crysencio Summerville quiz - Can Leeds United fans score 20/20?