Reports: Ryan Nelsen to take over as head coach of Toronto FC

According to multiple reports, Paul Mariner is out as Toronto FC head coach, with Ryan Nelsen set to replace him.

Nelsen, a 35-year-old central defender at English Premier League side Queens Park Rangers, has been rumored to be in the running for a job on TFC's coaching staff for the past few weeks. Reports from Soccer By Ives and the Toronto Sun suggest that Nelsen, who was thought to be in contention for an assistant or player/coach role, will actually take on the head coaching position. Toronto FC has called a press conference for Tuesday, though it did not specify the topic at hand.

If Nelsen joins Toronto, he would be reuniting with club president and general manager Kevin Payne, under whom he played at D.C. United before heading across the pond to sign for Blackburn Rovers in 2005.

A New Zealand international, Nelsen has no prior coaching experience. He would be taking the head coaching position from a man who had just stepped into the role last June. Mariner was hired as TFC's director of player development in Jan. 2011, a role he performed before taking over the coaching reins from Aron Winter.

Mariner was the seventh head coach in Toronto FC's six-season history.

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